SCOTLAND

Nuclear Power Stations

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what his policy is on the cost of decommissioning the nuclear power stations at Torness and Hunterston if Scotland votes for independence.

David Mundell: The UK Government’s position is clear: Scotland benefits from being part of the UK and the UK benefits from having Scotland within it. We do not have a separate policy for decommissioning nuclear power stations in Scotland.

Nuclear Power Stations

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what his policy is on the cost of decommissioning and clean up of the site at Dounreay if Scotland votes for independence.

David Mundell: The UK Government’s position is clear: Scotland benefits from being part of the UK and the UK benefits from having Scotland within it. We do not have a separate policy for decommissioning our civil nuclear facilities in Scotland.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Female Genital Mutilation

Simon Burns: To ask the Attorney-General what steps the Crown Prosecution Service is taking to better prosecute cases involving female genital mutilation.

Oliver Heald: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is taking a leading role in tackling female genital mutilation (FGM). The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) announced the first ever prosecution under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 on 21 March 2014. The first defendant is charged with carrying out FGM and the second defendant is charged with intentionally encouraging an offence of FGM and aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring an offence of FGM.
	The CPS has worked closely with the police, other Government Departments and third sector organisations to put a robust framework in place to support reporting and the effective investigation and prosecution of FGM. The CPS has published action plans in 2012 and 2013 which have led to much closer joint working between the police and CPS. Lead prosecutors have been appointed for each CPS area and they have led on agreeing protocols with every local police force setting out the arrangements for investigating and prosecuting FGM locally. A joint CPS/police national training event has been held recently. The DPP and I have written to Ministers in the Home Office, Ministry of Justice and Department of Health with a paper identifying possible ways in which the criminal law could be strengthened.
	The DPP and I attended a Ministers’ meeting recently to consider cross-Government action against FGM.

RSPCA

Karl McCartney: To ask the Attorney-General if he will place in the Library a copy of evidence submitted by the Law Officers’ departments to the independent review of the RSCPA’s prosecutions activity being carried out by Mr Stephen Wooler.

Dominic Grieve: Officials from the Crown Prosecution Service and my Office have met Mr Wooler to discuss his review, but have not made any submissions of evidence.

Written Questions: Government Responses

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General when he plans to reply to Question 184962 on Crown Prosecution Service tabled by the hon. Member for Islington South and Finsbury on 20 January 2014.

Oliver Heald: I have done so.

NORTHERN IRELAND

IRA

William McCrea: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what reports she has received on whether the Provisional IRA is still involved in criminal and illegal activity.

Theresa Villiers: Investigation of criminal activity is a matter for the PSNI.

Public Expenditure

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what proportion of the Northern Ireland Office budget for each year since 2010 has been spent on (a) non-governmental organisations and (b) private companies.

Theresa Villiers: The Northern Ireland Office budget includes a core Department and a number of arm's length bodies. Details of the Department's expenditure is held on the Department's accounting system, however to extract the information required to answer this question would incur costs disproportionate to that of answering a standard PQ. Details of the Department's expenditure can be found within the Annual Report and Accounts, which can be found at the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/search?q=NIO+accounts

Terrorism

Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether information obtained from a case review undertaken by the Police Service of Northern Ireland Historic Enquiries Team which could lead to prosecution would be considered new evidence under the terms of the letters of comfort issued to so-called on-the-runs and therefore permitting prosecutions rather than as evidence already in existence at the time of the issue of the letter and therefore preventing prosecutions proceeding.

Theresa Villiers: Information obtained from case reviews undertaken by the Historical Inquiries Team and any subsequent assessment of that information as an evidential basis for prosecution is a matter for the PSNI and the prosecuting authorities.

Terrorism

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what discussions she has had with the Public Prosecution Service about terrorist-related cases within the last 12 months.

Theresa Villiers: The prosecution of such cases is entirely a matter for the Northern Ireland Public Prosecution Service which acts independently of Government.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

British Business Bank

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many applications have been received for proposals for co-investment alongside private sector investment in the first phase of the Business Bank programme.

Matthew Hancock: The British Business Bank's £300 million Investment Programme has now received 103 Expressions of Interest, requesting Government investment totalling £2.9 billion.
	So far, £85 million has been committed through the Investment Programme to three finance providers. Alongside private sector investment, this will help to support over £550 million of lending capacity to smaller businesses. The £87 million allocated under the Business Finance Partnership forerunner of the Investment Programme has already supported over £225 million of lending to smaller businesses. A total of nine alternative lenders have so far been supported through these programmes.

Business: Young People

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he has taken to ensure the availability of direct business experience for young people at school and university.

Matthew Hancock: The Government are encouraging an entrepreneurial culture in the UK by supporting a range of enterprising activities. These include a number of student challenges led by schools, colleges and universities, but also engagement with inspirational entrepreneurs who speak directly with students, sharing what it means to run a business and the skills they will need in order to be successful in the future.
	This engagement, including programmes such as the Premier League Enterprise Academy and Inspiring the Future, forms part of the Government's drive to provide young people with hands-on enterprise experience. The Government are also encouraging employers and schools to work together to inspire young people, introducing them to the world of work, careers and the skills and attitudes that employers are looking for in their future work force.
	In August 2013 the Government reformed post-16 funding to incentivise providers to offer high quality work experience and work-related learning as part of the non-qualification element of 16-19 study programmes, enabling young people to develop their employability skills.

Exports: Government Assistance

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether he has submitted an application for approval under EU state aid rules in relation to the Export Refinancing Facility.

Michael Fallon: Confirmation has been received on 19 March 2014 from the European Commission that the Export Refinancing Facility can move forward without a formal notification, as the Commission considers it does not entail state aid.

Exports: Government Assistance

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many businesses have received support through the Export Refinancing Facility to date; and what the value of such support is.

Michael Fallon: As outlined in the 2014 Budget, ECGD's Export Refinancing Facility (ERF) will be formally launched in April 2014. Confirmation was received on 19 March 2014 from the European Commission that the facility can move forward without a formal notification as the Commission considers that it does not entail state aid.

Motor Vehicles: Insurance

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether the Competition Commission will make the datasets held as part of the investigation into the private motor insurance market available to the parties affected by the decisions made from them.

Jennifer Willott: The Competition Commission is an independent body which conducts its investigations in accordance with the process and procedures set out in the Enterprise Act 2002 and its published guidance. Where necessary, the CC is able to give access to confidential data whilst ensuring that commercially sensitive material is protected. This allows parties to understand the gist of the CC's reasoning and how it was reached.
	The Competition Commission held a data room to enable parties affected by the private motor insurance market investigation to understand the data used in the investigation. Parties were given access to the data via a confidentiality room which enabled their advisers to have free access to all data. The reason why the parties themselves were unable to see the data was that the data consisted of commercially confidential information provided by all industry participants, i.e. each other's competitors. This was made clear to the parties at the outset.

Motor Vehicles: Insurance

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps the Competition Commission will take as part of its investigation into the private motor insurance market to ensure that all quantitative data that are (a) collected and (b) commissioned are done so on a like-for-like basis.

Jennifer Willott: The Competition Commission (CC) is an independent body which conducts its investigations in accordance with the process and procedures set out in the Enterprise Act 2002 and its published guidance. It provides for interested parties to make submissions at various stages of an investigation. The CC is subject to and required by general public law principles to have regard to these submissions and take into account any relevant submission in making its decisions.
	Submissions to the private motor insurance market investigation have been received and taken into account. Provisional findings were published on 19 December 2013, and the CC is now analysing the responses it has received in submissions and via multilateral and bilateral hearings held with parties. As a result of that process, additional information has been submitted to the CC, and the CC has also requested additional information from parties. The CC's ongoing process has been and is being explained to parties as the investigation proceeds.

New Businesses: Government Assistance

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  how many start-up loans of what total value have been awarded to individuals before a cash flow forecast was provided to a delivery partner;
	(2)  how many start up loans of what total value have been awarded to individuals before a business plan was provided to a delivery partner.

Matthew Hancock: These data are not available.

New Businesses: Unemployed People

Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to promote small business entrepreneurial skills for unemployed people in Chelmsford constituency.

Matthew Hancock: Small businesses are vital to the economy and this Government are supporting people to start their own business in many ways including those who are currently unemployed.
	The New Enterprise Allowance can provide money and support to help unemployed people start their own business if they are getting certain benefits. This scheme can provide a loan to help with start up costs and a weekly allowance paid over 26 weeks. It can also provide a mentor to help develop business ideas and to write a business plan. Mentor support is ongoing in the early months of trading.
	The gov.uk website provides a finance and support finder at:
	www.gov.uk/business-finance-support-finder
	which can provide details of grant schemes. And the British Bankers Association’s mentoring website at:
	www.mentorsme.co.uk/
	provides access to free business mentors.

Older People: Crime Prevention

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what new steps he plans to take to protect the elderly against scams.

Jennifer Willott: To increase consumer protection we are introducing new legislation to give consumers private rights to seek redress and, where appropriate, compensation when they have been the victims of misleading or aggressive commercial practices.
	Alongside this the Government are committed to working with its partners to protect vulnerable consumers, such as the elderly, from scams through targeted education campaigns and robust enforcement action. Mass marketing scams have been identified as a priority for coordinated action by the Consumer Protection Partnership.
	We are also working with Citizens Advice and Trading Standards on their annual Scam Awareness campaign in May 2014 which aims to empower consumers by raising awareness of the Citizens Advice Consumer Service and encouraging people to report scams so that appropriate action can be taken.
	The National Trading Standards Board coordinates and funds the specialist teams to tackle scams:
	The National Trading Standards Scambuster Teams are working to catch scammers and bring them to justice to give consumers peace of mind. Since April 2012, the team has prevented rogues from scamming consumers out of around £90 million;
	The specialist National Trading Standards Scams Team is working with partners to provide access and support for victims and to disrupt UK based companies from aiding, abetting and committing fraud or other offences; and
	The National Trading Standards eCrime Team provides additional resource to support Trading Standards in tackling the increasing threat to businesses and consumers in relation to fraud and scams. Since April 2012, the Team have uncovered fraud of around £10 million.

TREASURY

Children: Day Care

Lucy Powell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the potential effect of his tax-free child-care scheme on child-care price inflation.

Nicky Morgan: Information on how future child care costs have been estimated can be found in the Budget 2014 policy costings document:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/293740/PU1638_policy_costings_budget_2014.pdf

Children: Poverty

Julie Hilling: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate his Department has made of the effects of changes to tax and benefits on the number of children living in relative income poverty in (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14 and (c) 2014-15.

Nicky Morgan: The Government publish the impact of its decisions at each fiscal event, in a distributional analysis document. The latest document is available online at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/293738/budget_2014_distributional_analysis.pdf
	The Government remains committed to eradicating child poverty. However, the Government believe looking at relative income in isolation is not a helpful measure to track progress towards the target of ending child poverty.
	The Government’s Child Poverty Strategy 2014-17 sets out the plan to improve the life chances of children by: raising the incomes of poor children’s families by helping them get into work and making work pay; supporting the living standards of low-income families; and raising educational outcomes of poor children.
	Alongside the strategy, the Government have published an in-depth evidence review which identifies what leads families to be stuck in poverty and what leads poor children to become poor adults. By identifying and understanding the root causes of child poverty, now and across generations, the Government can target action effectively.

Environmental Audit

Paul Flynn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish the environmental impact audit conducted ahead of his 2014 Financial Statement.

Nicky Morgan: The Treasury does not intend to publish an environmental impact audit of the 2014 Financial Statement. HM Revenue and Customs has published Tax Impact Information Notes for tax policy decisions announced at the Budget and these discuss significant environmental impacts where relevant.

Equitable Life Assurance Society: Compensation

Lady Hermon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will extend the Equitable Life payment scheme to policyholders who suffered financial losses as a result of Government maladministration which occurred (a) before 1 September 1992 and (b) after 31 December 2000; and if he will make a statement.

Sajid Javid: The Government have no plans to change the eligibility criteria for the Equitable Life payment scheme. Any financial losses resulting from investment decisions taken outside of the qualifying period are not a result of Government maladministration, and are therefore outside the remit of the scheme.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Paul Flynn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what evaluation he has made of the increase in greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the measures announced in paragraph 1.107 of the Budget 2014 to tackle the energy costs faced by the most energy intensive industries.

Nicky Morgan: Paragraph 1.107 of the Budget 2014 announces compensation for energy intensive industries for Government policies which increase the cost of electricity they consume. Any increased electricity use by these companies will have no impact on the maximum allowable greenhouse gas emissions at a European level. The EU Emissions Trading Scheme specifies a hard limit on carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation across the EU. Any increased electricity use by energy intensive industries will be caught within this cap.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the interest incurred on the debt needed to finance High Speed 2.

Danny Alexander: Government spending is paid for by general taxation, and when that is not sufficient, through borrowing. The Government do not hypothecate its different sources of financing, i.e. through borrowing or taxation, to different elements of spending.

Parking

Paul Flynn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the change of use measures in paragraph 1.147 of the Budget 2014 will include a requirement on businesses extending parking areas to introduce sustainable urban drainage systems and permeable paving.

Nicky Morgan: The proposed change and relevant conditions will be subject to a consultation by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Revenue and Customs

Gregg McClymont: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people are currently employed by HM Revenue and Customs in (a) the UK, (b) Scotland and (c) each Scottish parliamentary constituency.

David Gauke: The number of people currently employed by HM Revenue and Customs as at 28 February 2014 in (a) the UK is 69,985 and (b) Scotland 9,090. For each constituency, as follows:
	
		
			 Constituency Headcount 
			 Aberdeen Central 149 
			 Almond Valley 468 
			 Argyll and Bute 1— 
			 Ayr 1— 
			 Banffshire and Buchan Coast 1— 
			 Caithness, Sutherland and Ross 14 
			 Coatbridge and Chryston 196 
			 Cumbernauld and Kilsyth 1,445 
			 Cunninghame South 51 
			 Dumbarton 1— 
			 Dumfriesshire 1— 
			 Dundee City West 683 
			 Dunfermline 1— 
			 East Kilbride 2,623 
			 Edinburgh Central 665 
			 Edinburgh Pentlands 678 
			 Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire 1— 
			 Glasgow Kelvin 1,089 
			 Greenock and Inverclyde 5 
			 Inverness and Nairn 76 
			 Kirkcaldy 1— 
			 Linlithgow 812 
			 Mid Fife and Glenrothes 84 
			 Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale 1— 
			 Motherwell and Wishaw 1— 
			 Paisley 19 
			 Perthshire North 1— 
		
	
	
		
			 Stirling 1— 
			 Uddingston and Bellshill 1— 
			 Total 9,090 
			 1 Fewer than 5.

Taxation: Bingo

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has sought representations from interested parties on a reduction in the bingo duty rate from 20 per cent to 15 per cent in the 2014 Budget.

David Gauke: At Budget 2014, we announced the reduction in bingo duty to 10% to support bingo clubs.
	Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery.
	The Treasury publishes a list of ministerial meetings with external organisations, available at:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/minister_hospitality.htm

Taxation: Pensioners

Ian Lavery: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how many pensioners’ tax affairs have been subject to PAYE reconciliation by HM Revenue and Customs in (a) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11, (c) 2011-12 and (d) 2012-13; and what the aggregated outcome was of those reconciliation processes in terms of (i) tax due, (ii) tax refunds due, (iii) tax refunds paid, (iv) further enquiries made, (v) tax returns requested and (vi) adjustments to notices of coding made;
	(2)  what proportion of those people of retirement age who were due tax refunds received such refunds in (a) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11, (c) 2011-12 and (d) 2012-13; and what the average such refund was in each such year.

David Gauke: HMRC reports figures for all PAYE reconciliation and tax refunds to National Audit Office for the Department’s annual report by the Comptroller and Auditor General. The reports are published at:
	www.hmrc.gov.uk
	HMRC does not hold the data requested in the format required and the information requested could be made available only at disproportionate cost.

Taxation: Pensioners

Ian Lavery: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people of pensionable age (a) visited an HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) enquiry centre and (b) used HMRC telephone enquiry service for help with their tax affairs in (i) 2009-10, (ii) 2010-11, (iii) 2011-12 and (iv) 2012-13; and what proportion of all visits such figures represent.

David Gauke: HMRC does not hold the data requested in the format required. The information could be made available only at disproportionate cost.

VAT: Tourism

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the tourism industry in (a) Northern Ireland, (b) Scotland and (c) England and Wales of the decision by the government of Ireland to retain a reduced rate of VAT on tourism; and if he will make a statement.

David Gauke: No specific assessment has been made of the potential effect for the tourism industry in Northern Ireland, Scotland and England and Wales of the decision by the Government of Ireland to retain a reduced rate of VAT on tourism.

Working Tax Credit: Scotland

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was paid in working tax credits to recipients in (a) Scotland and (b) Kilmarnock and Loudoun constituency in each of the last three years.

Nicky Morgan: The following table details the total working tax credit entitlement for claimants in the respective areas for the three most recent years that data is available.
	
		
			 Entitlement 
			 £ million 
			 Geographical region 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 
			 Scotland 654.1 669.7 624.9 
			 Kilmarnock and Loudoun 12.3 12.3 12.2 
		
	
	This table only contains the total amount of entitlement to working tax credits. Some of these claimants will also be entitled to child tax credits.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Animal Welfare: Circuses

David Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what meetings his Department has had with external bodies about the use of wild animals in circuses since the publication of the Government's response to the Fourth Report of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee of Session 2013-14.

George Eustice: Since the Government responded to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee's Report on Wild Animals in Circuses in October 2013, Lord de Mauley has met representatives of Animal Defenders International and separately met the Classical Circus Association to discuss the use of wild animals in circuses.

Bovine Tuberculosis

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will set up an independent committee to review the effect of the pilot badger culls on bovine TB ahead of any wider roll-out of the cull.

George Eustice: It is too soon to determine the impact of the two pilot culls on cattle breakdowns. The randomised badger control trials overseen by the Independent Scientific Group have already established the positive contribution that culling can make in reducing TB breakdowns. The results of these trials were reviewed by a meeting of scientific experts held at DEFRA in April 2011. The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for North Shropshire (Mr Paterson), is currently considering the report of the Independent Expert Panel before making a decision on wider rollout of the badger control policy.

Bovine Tuberculosis

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate he has made of the costs to the farming industry arising from cattle condemned after slaughter because of lesions caused by bovine TB in each of the last five years.

George Eustice: holding answer 24 March 2014
	DEFRA has made no estimate of the costs to the farming industry arising from cattle condemned after slaughter because of lesions caused by bovine TB. However, DEFRA pays full compensation for all TB reactors it requires to be slaughtered for disease control reasons.

Dogs: Quarantine

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 12 March 2014, Official Report, column 269W, on dogs: imports, how many quarantine kennels there are in England to handle illegally imported dogs into the UK; and how many illegally imported dogs have been detained in these facilities in each of the last four years.

George Eustice: There are currently eight licensed quarantine facilities in England.
	The following table details the number of dogs licensed into quarantine in Great Britain over the last four years.
	
		
			  Number 
			 2010 89 
			 2011 96 
			 2012 318 
			 2013 376

Floods: Property Development

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the operation and effectiveness of Planning Policy Statement 25 and the Environment Agency's consequent powers to challenge development.

Nicholas Boles: The policies in Planning Policy Statement 25 have been carried through to the National Planning Policy Framework and associated planning practice guidance.
	In that context, I refer the hon. Member to my answers of 10 February 2014, Official Report, column 418W and of 11 February 2014, Official Report, column 560W, and my written statement of 6 March 2014, Official Report, column 49WS, on the planning protections against flooding.
	I can confirm that the Pitt Review's recommendation number 8 was implemented, and in that light, we are currently further reviewing what lessons can be learnt from recent flooding events.

Nature Conservation: British Overseas Territories

Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  if his Department will establish a biosecurity review in the British Overseas Territories;
	(2)  if his Department will conduct a review of bio-control of invasive species in the Overseas Territories;
	(3)  if his Department will conduct a review of the rate, spread and risks posed by invasive plant species in the Overseas Territories.

George Eustice: The Government attach a high priority to addressing biosecurity, bio-control and invasive species issues in the UK Overseas Territories (OTs). We welcome the attention drawn to this issue by the Environmental Audit Committee in its recent report on Sustainability in the UK Overseas Territories and the recent session of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Biodiversity on Biosecurity in the Overseas Territories.
	Overseas Territories' Governments are constitutionally responsible for the protection and conservation of their natural environments and we work in partnership with them to identify where our support can be most effective. Overseas Territories naturally have different priorities and our approach has been to target resources in support of these rather than undertake any comprehensive review.
	As a result, DEFRA has provided funding for projects on biosecurity, bio-control and non-native species spread, following consultation with Overseas Territories’ Governments, where this has helped to meet their identified priorities.

Nature Conservation: British Overseas Territories

Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what criteria were used in his Department's decision on which projects relating to the conservation of endangered species in St Helena, Tristan de Cunha, Ascension and Anguilla it would fund.

George Eustice: UK Government funding for species-related biodiversity projects in our UK Overseas Territories is provided through a variety of schemes including the Darwin Initiative (and more recently "Darwin Plus"—the Overseas Territories Environment and Climate Fund), the Flagship Species Fund and DEFRA research programmes. Each of these has its own guidance, application process and selection criteria.
	Under Darwin Plus, for example, each project application is reviewed thoroughly by at least three members of the Darwin Plus Advisory Group and discussed at a meeting, following which the highest-ranked projects are referred to Ministers for funding approval. DEFRA-funded research in the South Atlantic and Caribbean was evaluated using a set of criteria set out on the advertised specifications, covering quality, experience and expertise, cost and likely impact. Research proposals were also peer reviewed by independent experts prior to funding.

Pet Travel Scheme

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions he has had with (a) EU Ministers and (b) the EU Commission on improving compliance with PETS.

George Eustice: No recent discussions have taken place with either EU Ministers or the European Commission on this issue.

RSPCA

Karl McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will place in the Library a copy of the evidence submitted by his Department to the independent review of the RSCPA's prosecutions activity being carried out by Mr Stephen Wooler.

George Eustice: DEFRA officials met Stephen Wooler CBE on 20 March 2014 and answered his questions about the arrangements in England for enforcement of animal welfare offences. No written evidence was submitted. He was given a copy of DEFRA's publicly available ‘Enforcement Policy Statement’ (2010) and a copy of the High Court judgment in Barco de Vapeur and others v. Thanet District Council (2014) (a successful claim for damages against Thanet DC for preventing live exports of sheep).

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Green Deal Scheme

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the potential benefits to the customer experience if Green Deal providers were able to access the supporting data for Green Deal reports held by Government.

Gregory Barker: Green Deal customers receive a Green Deal Advice Report which provides energy savings estimates for the package of improvements recommended by a Green Deal adviser. These savings are calculated by approved Green Deal software. The Green Deal Advice Report can subsequently be tailored by Green Deal providers using the Green Deal Improvement Package Tool and following discussions with customers of the improvements they want to take up. Providers will also discuss the detail of any financing arrangement that the customer wants. Providing customers with access to supporting data held on the Green Deal Register is unnecessary as part of the Green Deal process and would not change the savings that accrue to customers.
	A list of approved Green Deal software can be found at:
	http://www.bre.co.uk/filelibrary/SAP/2009/GD_OA_software.pdf
	The Green Deal Improvement Package Tool can be found at:
	https://www.gdsap.org.uk

Renewable Energy: Heating

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change on what basis the assumed outputs from certified heat pumps installed in domestic premises will be used in calculations of progress towards achieving EU renewable energy targets.

Gregory Barker: The contribution of heat pumps installed in both domestic and non-domestic premises to progress towards achieving EU renewable energy directive targets is accounted for using the methods outlined in European Commission Decision C(2013)1082. This was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 6 March 2013, and can be found on the following link:
	http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2013:062:0027:0035:EN:PDF
	The calculations utilise the numbers of compliant heat pumps installed, their capacity and location (used to define the climatic zone), together with default values proposed in the Decision for the number of hours operated and the seasonal performance factor for each type of heat pump.

Resignations

Christopher Pincher: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many of his Department’s (a) officials and (b) senior officials working on the development of the Energy Act 2013 left the Department in (i) 2012, (ii) 2013 and (iii) since 18 December 2013.

Gregory Barker: The number of civil servants who were leading on the development of the Energy Act 2013 for the Department of Energy and Climate Change and who have subsequently left the Department permanently are shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Number 
			 1 January to 31 December 2012 0 
			 1 January to 17 December 2013 7 
			 18 December 2013 to 28 February 2014 3 
		
	
	There were other civil servants who contributed to various aspects of the development but were not part of the core team. We do not hold central records of these people and to contact line managers for this information would incur disproportionate costs.

Resignations

Christopher Pincher: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many of his Department’s officials left the Department in (a) 2012 and (b) 2013; and how many have left since 1 January 2014.

Gregory Barker: The number of civil servants and senior civil servants, who have permanently left the Department of Energy and Climate Change in each of the years specified, are shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Number of leavers 
			 1 January to 31 December 2012 173 
			 1 January to 31 December 2013 201 
			 1 January to 28 February 2014 41

Wind Power

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the health effects of infrasound from wind turbine generators.

Gregory Barker: A number of independent peer reviewed research studies have concluded that there is no evidence of health effects arising from infrasound or low frequency noise, generated by wind farms that are built according to Government guidelines.
	For example, a comprehensive study undertaken in the UK in 1997 by ETSU for the Department of Trade and Industry (ETSU W/13/00392/REP) found no evidence that ground transmitted low frequency noise from wind turbines is at a sufficient level to be harmful to human health. These findings were confirmed by a study published in 2005 by the Applied and Environmental Geophysics Group of the School of Physical and Geographical Sciences at Keele university titled “Microseismic and Infrasound Monitoring of Low Frequency Noise and Vibrations from Wind Farms”, available at:
	http://www.keele.ac.uk/geophysics/appliedseismology/wind/Final_Report.pdf
	In 2003, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs published a report entitled “A Review of Published Research on Low Frequency Noise and its Effects”, available at:
	http://westminsterresearch.wmin.ac.uk/4141/1/Benton_2003.pdf
	and in 2004, BERR commissioned Hayes McKenzie to conduct an independent study to investigate the levels and effects of low frequency noise from wind farms, available at:
	http://Webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.berr.gov.uk/energy/sources/renewables/explained/wind/onshore-offshore/page31267.html

Wind Power

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much onshore wind capacity (a) received planning approval and (b) was rejected in each month in (a) 2009, (b) 2010, (c) 2011, (d) 2012 and (e) 2013; and how many planning applications for onshore wind farms were (i) approved and (ii) rejected in each of those months.

Gregory Barker: This information is available in the Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD), which tracks the progress of all renewable energy projects 0.01 MW and over from submission of a planning application through to determination and generation:
	https://restats.decc.gov.uk/app/reporting/decc/monthlyextract

CABINET OFFICE

Business

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will list the forms which businesses in the UK are required to complete in order to provide returns to Eurostat.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Peter Fullerton, dated March 2014
	On behalf of the Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will list the forms which businesses in the UK are required to complete in order to provide returns to Eurostat (192489).
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) runs a wide range of business surveys whose outputs are essential in order to meet UK policy needs and monitor the UK economy, for example measuring Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the UK National Accounts. The majority of the surveys are designed to also enable the UK to meet EU regulations.
	Table 1 shows a complete list of ONS business surveys which contribute to statutory returns to Eurostat.
	
		
			 Table 1: ONS Business Surveys contributing to EU Regulations 
			  Surveys 
			 1 Monthly Business Survey (Manufacturing and Services) 
			 2 Monthly Business Survey-Retail Sales Index 
			 3 Monthly Business Survey-Construction 
			 4 Monthly Vacancy Survey 
			 5 Quarterly Business Survey 
			 6 Business Register Survey (Quarterly) 
			 7 Business Register and Employment Survey (Annual) 
			 8 Monthly Wages and Salaries Survey (MWSS) 
			 9 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) 
			 10 Quarterly Stocks Survey 
			 11 Quarterly Survey of Capital Expenditure Survey 
			 12 Survey into Business Spending on Capital Items 
			 13 Annual Business Survey 
			 14 UK Manufacturers' Sales by Product (Prodcom) 
			 15 Monthly Survey for Index Numbers of Export Prices-Price Quotation Return 
			 16 Monthly Survey for Index Numbers of Import Prices-Price Quotation Return 
			 17 Monthly Survey for Index Numbers of Producer Prices-Price Quotation Return 
			 18 Quarterly Survey for Services Producer Price Indices 
			 19 Services Turnover Survey 
			 20 Quarterly Operating Profits Survey 
			 21 Quarterly Survey of International Trade in Services 
			 22 Annual Survey of International Trade in Services 
			 23 Quarterly Inward Foreign Direct Investment Survey 
			 24 Annual Inward Foreign Direct Investment Survey 
			 25 Quarterly Outward Foreign Direct Investment Survey 
			 26 Annual Outward Foreign Direct Investment Survey 
			 27 Outward Foreign Affiliates Statistics Survey (OFATS) 
			 28 Quarterly Survey of Financial Assets and Liabilities 
			 29 Investment in UK Companies by Foreign Companies 
			 30 Quarterly Survey of Insurance Companies: Long-Term Business Transactions and Balances 
			 31 Quarterly Survey of Insurance Companies: General Business Transactions and Balances 
			 32 Quarterly Survey of Insurance Companies: Long-Term Business Income and Expenditure 
			 33 Annual Survey of Insurance Companies: Long-Term Business Income and Expenditure 
			 34 Quarterly Survey of Insurance Companies: General Business Income and Expenditure 
			 35 Annual Survey of Insurance Companies: General Business Income and Expenditure 
			 36 Annual Survey of Insurance Companies: Long-Term Business Balance Sheet 
			 37 Annual Survey of Insurance Companies: General Business Balance Sheet 
			 38 Quarterly Survey of Pension Funds: Transactions and Balances 
			 39 Quarterly Survey of Pension Funds: Income and Expenditure 
		
	
	
		
			 40 Annual Survey of Pension Funds: Balance Sheet 
			 41 Unit Trusts: Annual Return of Liabilities and Assets 
			 42 Unit Trusts: Quarterly Return of Transactions 
			 43 Investment Trusts: Annual Return of Liabilities and Assets and Overseas Income and Interest Paid 
			 44 Investment Trusts: Quarterly Return of Transactions 
			 45 Property Unit Trusts: Annual Return of Liabilities and Assets 
			 46 Property Unit Trusts: Quarterly Return of Transactions 
			 47 Securities Dealers: Quarterly Return of Assets and Liabilities and of Transactions in Securities 
			 48 Securities Dealers: Quarterly Return of Income and Expenditure 
			 49 Monthly Survey of Consumer Credit Grantors 
			 50 Financial Services Survey: Quarterly Return of Assets and Liabilities and of Transactions 
			 51 Financial Services Survey: Annual Income and Expenditure Account 
			 52 National Balance sheet 
			 53 Survey of Research and Development carried out in the UK 
			 54 Survey of Research and Development carried out in the UK (Private Non-Profit Research and Development) 
			 55 E-commerce Survey (Annual)

Cancer

Robert Halfon: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the mortality rate for deaths caused by cancer has been in (a) Harlow constituency, (b) Essex and (c) England in the last 15 years.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Caron Walker, dated March 2014
	On behalf of the Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what the mortality rate for deaths caused by cancer has been in (a) Harlow constituency, (b) Essex and (c) England in the last 15 years. [193024].
	The most recent figures available are for 2012. Table 1 shows age-standardised mortality rate where cancer was the underlying cause for England, the county of Essex and the Harlow parliamentary constituency from 1998 to 2012 (where available). Rates are not presented for Harlow and Essex before 2001 because the corresponding population estimates are not available.
	The number of deaths registered in England and Wales each year by sex, age, cause, marital status, and place of death are published annually on the National Statistics website at:
	www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/vsob1/mortality-statistics--deaths-registered-in-england-and-wales--series-dr-/index.html
	
		
			 Table 1: Age-standardised mortality rates where cancer was the underlying cause of death, Harlow parliamentary constituency, Essex county and England, deaths registered each year from 1998 to 2012 
			  Harlow Essex England 
			 1998 n/a n/a 194.5 
			 1999 n/a n/a 189.4 
			 2000 n/a n/a 185.8 
			 2001 212.5 174.6 187.6 
			 2002 179.0 177.5 186.9 
			 2003 191.4 175.9 183.1 
			 2004 161.6 175.5 179.7 
			 2005 174.0 165.9 177.4 
			 2006 172.6 167.4 176.0 
			 2007 177.8 166.3 174.3 
			 2008 174.8 168.2 172.6 
		
	
	
		
			 2009 201.0 162.1 169.5 
			 2010 166.8 161.7 167.6 
			 2011 189.3 165.0 166.7 
			 2012 177.0 163.4 165.6 
			 n/a = Not available. Notes: 1. Age-standardised rates per 100,000 population, standardised to the 1976 European Standard Population (ESP). Age-standardised rates are used to allow comparison between populations which may contain different proportions of people of different ages. For more information on ESP, see the ONS website: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/user-guidance/health-and-life-events/revised-european-standard-population-2013--2013-esp-/index.html 2. Underlying cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes C00 to C97 for the period 2001 to 2012, and International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes 140 to 208 for the period 1998 to 2000. 3. Figures are based on deaths registered, rather than deaths occurring in the years 2008 and 2012. Further information on registration delays for a range of causes can be found on the ONS website: www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/user-guidance/health-and-life-events/impact-of-registration-delays-on-mortality-statistics/index.html 4. Figures exclude deaths of non-residents. 5. Figures are based on boundaries as of February 2014.

Civil Servants

Chris Evans: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many people were employed as civil servants in (a) the most recent period for which figures are available, (b) 2004 and (c) 1994.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Caron Walker, dated March 2014
	On behalf of the Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many people were employed as civil servants in (a) the most recent period for which figures are available, (b) 2004 and (c) 1994. (192478)
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles quarterly estimates of civil service employment from the Quarterly Public Sector Employment Survey (QPSES) and annual estimates from the Annual Civil Service Employment Survey (ACSES).
	The table shows the number of people who were employed as civil servants in (a) the most recent period for which figures are available, (b) 2004 and (c) 1994.
	Data for 1994 and 2004 refer to June (Quarter 2) data, as this relates to the annual reference period in those years. The most recent data refers to the latest quarterly data available.
	
		
			 Number of people employed as UK civil servants 
			  Headcount (thousand) 
			 June 1994 578 
			 June 2004 570 
			 December 2013 445 
			 Source: Public Sector Employment Survey

Conditions of Employment: North West

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what estimate he has made of the number of people in (a) Pendle constituency, (b) Lancashire and (c) the North West who have jobs which primarily require working (i) during the day and (ii) at night.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated March 2014
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking the Minister for the Cabinet Office for the estimate of the number of people in (a) Pendle constituency, (b) Lancashire and (c) the North West who have jobs which primarily require working (i) during the day and (ii) at night. (192413)
	Estimates of employment are derived the Labour Force Survey (LFS). During the survey, people who are identified as being in employment are asked about their regular pattern of work and whether it is usual for them to work (i) during the day, (ii) during the evening and (iii) at night. Respondents can say “yes” to any categories that apply. For those working 'during the evening' these hours are commonly between 15:00 and 24:00 and ‘at night’ they are commonly between 18:00 and 06:00. Therefore in some instances respondents may work both evenings and nights.
	Estimates derived from this question are available for the North West and Lancashire. However, estimates for the Pendle parliamentary constituency is not available because the limited size of the LFS sample means that they are not of sufficient quality. The available estimates are given in the table along with the employment total to provide context.
	
		
			 People in employment by usual time of working, April-June 2013 (thousands, not seasonally adjusted) 
			  Usual time of work under regular work pattern1  
			  During the day During the evening At night Total employment 
			 North West 2,367 686 199 3,165 
			 Lancashire 365 111 32 513 
			 1 The columns do not added to the total as respondents can be counted in more than one category. Also, some respondents would not have answered this question. As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty. The above estimates all have a coefficient of variation (CV) of less than 20%. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV. For example, for an estimate of 100 with a CV of 20% we would expect the true value to be within the range 60-140. Source: ONS Labour Force Survey

Public Sector

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what recent estimate he has made of the number of (a) co-operatives, (b) mutuals and (c) social enterprises which provide public services. [R]

Nick Hurd: The Government support the growth of the social economy. Across England, there are now more than 85 public service mutuals, up from just nine in 2010. Collectively they deliver well over £1 billion in public services.
	Cabinet Office analysis from 2013 based on the BIS Small Business Survey estimated that 28% (c. 50,000) of SME social enterprises provide goods or services in the public sector.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Arts: Finance

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of funding given by her Department was used to support creative industries in (a) London and (b) Greater Manchester in each of the last three years.

Edward Vaizey: The creative industries are a huge success story for the whole of the UK. However, the Department recognises the economic impact of creative and digital clusters in town and cities across the UK, including in London and Manchester, and is committed to nurturing these clusters. DCMS funding for the creative industries is given via its public agencies, including the BFI, ACE and Creative England among others; who make their funding decisions independent of Government.

Arts: Lancashire

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much arts funding (a) in total and (b) per head of population was allocated in (i) Lancashire and (ii) Pendle constituency in each of the last five years.

Edward Vaizey: Public funding for the arts is administered by Arts Council England (ACE) and local authorities. ACE makes its funding decisions independently of Government. Nearly £3 billion will be invested in the arts by ACE over the lifetime of this parliament. DCMS does not hold information on levels of arts funding made by individual local authorities.
	ACE has provided the following information:
	
		
			 Pendle 
			 £ 
			  Grant in aid Lottery Total Spend per head 
			 2008-09 83,160 22,750 105,910 1.19 
			 2009-10 - 800 800 0.01 
			 2010-11 - - - - 
			 2011-12 - 30,643 30,643 0.34 
			 2012-13 - 109,930 109,930 1.23 
			 Total 83,160 164,123 247,283 2.76 
		
	
	
		
			 Lancashire1 
			 £ 
			  Grant in aid Lottery Total Spend per head 
			 2008-09 2,331,183 758,200 3,089,383 2.14 
			 2009-10 2,223,023 855,977 3,079,000 2.13 
			 2010-11 2,196,762 710,119 2,906,881 2.01 
			 2011-12 1,938,009 5,500,242 7,438,251 5.09 
			 2012-13 3,575,238 4,664,986 8,240,224 5.62 
			  12,264,215 12,489,524 24,753,739 16.89 
			 1 Includes Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen, unitary authorities.

Betting Shops: Licensing

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  how many betting shops have (a) been closed and (b) had a licence review on the grounds that they did not meet the Gambling Commission requirement that betting be the primary gambling activity of betting shops:
	(2)  what recent discussions she has had with the Gambling Commission on the primary gambling activity rules.

Helen Grant: I regularly discuss a range of matters with the Gambling Commission. The Commission works with local authorities to ensure the requirements surrounding primary gambling activity are complied with. This work includes direct interaction with licensed operators in cases where the provision of betting facilities has appeared to be non-compliant; businesses have often responded to concerns raised by the Commission by quickly making changes to their business or closing premise. A formal operating licence review has formed part of the Commission's approach in 18 cases.

Broadband

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much the Government has invested in delivering super fast broadband for (a) Greater Manchester and (b) London in each year since 2010.

Edward Vaizey: The Government have allocated Greater Manchester £3.45 million to support superfast broadband and up to £17.85 million under the Super Connected Cities programme. London has been allocated up to £25 million from the Super Connected Cities Programme and does not currently have an allocation of funding to support superfast broadband.

Copyright

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport with reference to the letter of 10 March 2014 from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries to the hon. Member for Bristol East, in which he said that 'an exception to copyright for private copying is not expected to cause any additional harm to rights holders', what the evidential basis is for the statement that rights holders are already experiencing harm as a result of this practice.

Edward Vaizey: The Government do not believe that rights holders are already experiencing harm as a result of this practice, and has received no evidence that demonstrates any such harm. The new exception is not expected to change this situation. An impact assessment on the exception is available at:
	http://www.ipo.gov.uk/consult-ia-bis1055.pdf

Direct Selling

David Mowat: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she is taking to increase the number of successful prosecutions of individuals or companies involved in unsolicited marketing by phone or text message about accident claims.

Edward Vaizey: Tackling unsolicited marketing calls and texts is priority for the Department and we will shortly publish our Action Plan for nuisance calls, which will set out our achievements to date, work that is under way and our plans for the future. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) considers complaints and can take action for a breach the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) 2003. The ICO can issue a monetary penalty of up to £500,000 and since January 2012, they have issued six substantive monetary penalties totalling £975,000 and action against other organisations is also under their current consideration:
	http://ico.org.uk/enforcement/action/calls
	http://ico.org.uk/enforcement/action/texts
	Also, the Claims Management Regulation (CMR) Unit (in the Ministry of Justice) regulates Claims Management Companies (CMC's), including accident claims for personal injury. The CMR Unit has consulted from 21 November to 9 January 2014, on proposals to strengthen their conduct rules to ensure that any data or leads received through telemarketing is legally obtained and that claims are properly substantiated. This is in addition to continuing to enforce the ban on payment and receipt of referral fees. Subject to parliamentary approval, CMCs will for the first time face financial penalties for poor conduct, such as gathering data without due diligence and the CMR unit is also working more closely with the ICO and Ofcom, to detect and punish malpractice and raise standards, which includes proactively sharing information and intelligence.

Elgin Marbles

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  what (a) communications, (b) meetings and (c) discussions she has had with (i) her ministerial colleagues, (ii) representatives of the British Museum, (iii) Greek Government representatives and (iv) others on the request from the Director General of UNESCO to participate in a UNESCO mediation process to settle the dispute over the Parthenon sculptures;
	(2)  what steps she plans to take in response to UNESCO's request that the Government participate in a UNESCO mediation process with the Greek authorities regarding the disputed Parthenon sculptures; and if she will make a statement;
	(3)  if she will publish her Department's plans in respect of the handling of UNESCO's request that the UK participate in mediation regarding the disputed Parthenon sculptures;
	(4)  what (a) representations have been made and (b) discussions instigated by Greek government representatives regarding the Parthenon sculptures at UNESCO meetings in the last 10 years.

Edward Vaizey: The Parthenon Sculptures are the legal property of the British Museum. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport routinely discusses matters relating to the Parthenon Sculptures with interested parties including colleagues within government, the British Museum, Greek officials and UNESCO. The Government will respond to the letter from UNESCO in due course.

Females: Equality

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will lobby for a stand-alone goal on gender equality in the post Millennium Development Goals framework during her visit to the Commission on the Status of Women; and if she will make a statement.

Helen Grant: The UK has been clear in its call for a standalone goal on gender equality and girls and women's empowerment, as well as ensuring that these issues are addressed throughout the goals and targets in the framework to be agreed by members of the United Nations. The UK's statement at the Commission on the Status of Women clearly set out the need for a standalone goal on gender equality, and the empowerment of girls and women in the post-2015 framework.
	We are working with others across the international community, including civil society, to ensure that this is achieved.

Gaming Machines

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will bring forward proposals to introduce a mandatory code of practice for bookmakers on fixed odds betting terminals.

Helen Grant: The Government have already made clear that player protection measures on fixed odds betting terminals introduced by the betting industry from 1 March 2014 must be toughened and made mandatory. The Gambling Commission is reviewing its licence conditions and codes of practice, and its guidance to licensing authorities. As part of that review, the Commission plans to determine what measures will be mandated for all licensed betting operators.

Hadrian’s Wall

Rory Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the contribution of the Hadrian's Wall region to the UK's tourism economy.

Helen Grant: I have not made an assessment of the contribution of tourism in the Hadrian's Wall region economy. However the latest regional estimates from the Office for National Statistics, published on 20 February 2014, show that in 2011 tourism directly contributed a gross value-added (GVA) of around £5.1 billion to the North West economy and £1.1 billion in the North East.

Sports: Injuries

Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what information her Department holds on the comparative risks of (a) death, (b) concussion and (c) other medical problems and injuries resulting from taking part in major sports.

Helen Grant: DCMS does not hold information or data on the comparative health risks resulting from taking part in major sports. My Department takes player safety seriously in all sports. I expect national governing bodies, as the designated authorities with responsibility to regulate their sport, to make player safety their highest priority. The Sport England NGB Whole Sport Plan Standard Terms and Conditions in respect of statutory compliance include all relevant health and safety laws.

Touting: Northern Ireland

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent discussions she has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on ticket touting.

Helen Grant: The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke (Maria Miller), has not had any recent discussions with the Northern Ireland Executive on ticket touting.

UN Commission on the Status of Women

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions she has had with (a) civil society and (b) the CSW Alliance in advance of the Commission on the Status of Women; and if she will make a statement.

Helen Grant: Active engagement with civil society has been a key element of our preparations and plans for the 58th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women. A robust programme of consultation and engagement with a wide range of civil society organisations has been put in place by my officials in the Government Equalities Office. This includes:
	i. Hosted a well-attended ministerial-led national consultation event with UK non-governmental organisations.
	ii. Worked closely with the UK NGO CSW Alliance and in particular a liaison group that they have established and met with key international development organisations to draw on their expertise on the millennium development goals.
	iii. Convened a meeting with a smaller drafting group drawn from the CSW NGO Alliance and the Gender and Development Network to examine the first draft of the text of the Agreed Conclusions.
	iv. Co-hosted a reception for UK NGOs at CSW with the UK Mission.
	v. Organised daily evening briefing meetings at the UK Mission during CSW to update UK NGOs on the progress of the negotiations of the Agreed Conclusions. This was supplemented by daily CSW e-bulletins to those NGOs in New York and in the UK.
	vi. Ahead of CSW, issued monthly dedicated CSW e-newsletters that provided UK NGOs with regular information on the UK's CSW plans.

JUSTICE

Prisoners: Radicalism

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many instances there were of radicalised prisoners being prevented from using the internet in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012 and (d) 2013.

Jeremy Wright: Prisoners are not allowed to have unrestricted access to the internet.
	Prisoners are only permitted access to the internet once strict risk assessment criteria are satisfied and then only to pre-approved websites in a managed classroom environment for rehabilitative purposes.
	Central records are not held on the number of prisoners that have access or those who are denied access to the internet. Figures could be provided only at disproportionate cost by collating the relevant information from records held locally by individual prisons, where available.

Youth Custody

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many places are currently occupied in each (a) youth offenders' institution and (b) secure training centre; and what the total capacity is of each such institution.

Jeremy Wright: Overall crime and proven offending by young people has fallen in recent years. Fewer young people have entered the criminal justice system, and as a result fewer young people have ended up in custody. This has allowed excess capacity in the youth secure estate to be decommissioned.
	Tables 1 and 2 show the current capacity and population in under-18 young offender institutions (YOIs) and secure training centres (STCs) at 31 of January for 2014, which is the latest available published data.
	The “capacity” figure relates to the number of beds available.
	
		
			 (a) Table 1: Capacity and population in under-18 young offender institutions at 31 January 2014 
			 Establishment Capacity Population 
			 Cookham Wood 126 120 
			 Feltham1 240 226 
			 Hindley1 248 161 
			 Parc 64 47 
			 Werrington 160 118 
			 Wetherby 259 214 
			 1 Feltham and Hindley operate dual functions in holding under-18s and young adults. 
		
	
	The table shows only the population and capacity related to under-18s.
	
		
			 (b) Table 2: Capacity and population in secure training centres at 31 January 2014 
			 Establishment Capacity Population 
			 Hassockfield 58 43 
			 Medway 68 62 
			 Oakhill 80 80 
			 Rainsbrook 87 81 
		
	
	These data are provisional and will be finalised in 2013-14 in the Youth Justice Statistics in January 2015.
	This information comes from the eAsset database, the booking system used by the Youth Justice Board to place young people into custody.
	These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing and can be subject to change over time.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Council Tax Reduction Schemes

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government at what level of income households in receipt of universal credit will be eligible for council tax reduction support.

Brandon Lewis: holding answer 24 March 2014
	The income levels at which pensioner claimants in England are eligible for council tax support will depend on the composition and characteristics of those individual households and any premiums or allowances that apply to them. The council tax support scheme which applies to pensioners in England is set nationally, and the applicable premiums and allowances are set out in The Council Tax Reduction Schemes (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2012 (SI2012 No. 2885), as amended.
	The income levels at which working-age claimants are eligible for council tax support are set out in the council tax support schemes of individual billing authorities in England.

Floods

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent progress has been made by local authorities in discharging their responsibilities under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 to (a) promote business continuity, (b) encourage the take-up of property flood resistance and (c) increase resilience by businesses.

Brandon Lewis: Local authorities have a statutory duty under the Civil Contingencies Act (2004) to provide advice and assistance to businesses and voluntary organisations about business continuity management. The responses to the 2012 National Capability Survey indicate that the majority of local authorities in England and Wales are providing advice and promoting business continuity through a range of local level initiatives. Government Departments including Cabinet Office, DCLG and BIS facilitate the dissemination of good practice such as the establishment of local business continuity forums, through the National Community Preparedness Stakeholder group which includes representatives from the local government sector.
	Government supports the take-up of property flood resistance by providing advice and funding to local authorities to encourage local communities to take up initiatives to increase the take-up of property flood resistance for houses and business premises. Between 2007 and 2012, over 1,600 properties nationally received these measures through a range of local projects funded by DEFRA and the Environment Agency. In addition, DEFRA launched the Repair and Renew grant which provides up to £5,000 per flood affected home or business for additional flood resilience or resistance measures for homes and businesses that have been flooded since December 2013.
	Other Government-backed schemes introduced to enhance business resilience include; the Business Rate Relief available to affected businesses, which provides 100% rate relief for three months for those businesses which have been wholly or partly flooded and the Business Support Scheme, a £10 million scheme to provide hardship funding for small and medium enterprises that have sustained hardship and significant loss of trade since December last year.

Floods

Sarah Newton: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when guidance will be published on how local authorities can apply to the £130 million additional flood relief fund.

Brandon Lewis: An additional £130 million funding package was announced 6 February, for emergency repairs to flood defences and maintenance: £30 million in the current year and £100 million next year. This funding is being allocated by the Environment Agency. The initial phase for applications closed on 10 March. The Environment Agency is working with local authorities and the Department for Communities and Local Government to ensure it has all relevant information required. A number of schemes have been announced to help businesses, farmers, homeowners affected. Information on the funding available can be found at the following link.
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/289077/Flood_Support_Schemes_-_Summary_of_Support_Guide.pdf

Floods: Ebbsfleet

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what evaluation his Department has made of the threat of flooding to the proposed site of a new garden city at Ebbsfleet; and if he will publish on his Department's website any studies conducted or commissioned by his Department on that matter.

Kris Hopkins: The Government take the risk of flooding very seriously. The new Urban Development Corporation, working with local authorities, will pay particular attention to flood risk at Ebbsfleet, taking account of the most up to date evidence.
	In considering new applications, we have made it crystal clear that local planning authorities need to consider the strict tests set out in national policy, and where these are not met, new development on flood risk sites should not be allowed. The National Planning Policy Framework states that inappropriate development in areas at risk of flooding should be avoided. Local planning authorities should direct development away from areas at highest risk, including floodplains, but where development is necessary, it must be demonstrated that it is safe and will not increase flood risk elsewhere. This gives councils a robust ability to reject unacceptable planning applications. Councils’ local plans should also shape where development should and should not go, and address the need for associated infrastructure to accompany new development.
	Flood prevention measures, like robust flood and coastal defence, can make development acceptable where it would otherwise not be.
	Moreover, national planning policy is clear that any new buildings that are needed in flood risk areas are appropriately flood resistant and resilient. Mitigation measures such as land raising, landscaping, raised thresholds and re-arranging the internal uses of buildings, can sometimes also make development acceptable in such areas. Such measures can be made a requirement of any planning consent by the local authority.
	The strict tests set out in the framework to protect people and property from flooding are underpinned by our new planning guidance, which can be found at:
	http://planningguidance.planningportal.gov.uk

Housing: Fires

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  how many (a) fatalities and (b) injuries there were in England as a result of fire in (i) privately rented, (ii) social and (iii) owner-occupied homes in each of the last three years;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the number of people aged (a) 0 to 10, (b) 11 to 20, (c) 21 to 30, (d) 31 to 40, (e) 41 to 50, (f) 51 to 60, (g) 61 to 70, (h) 71 to 80, (i) 81 to 90 and (j) more than 91 years who (i) died and (ii) were injured as a result of fire in private rented sector housing in each of the last three years.

Brandon Lewis: holding answer 24 March 2014
	This information is not held centrally.

Local Development Frameworks

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many local planning authorities do not have an (a) adopted local development framework or (b) extant development plan in place.

Nicholas Boles: This Government have put local plans at the heart of planning. Our policy strongly encourages areas to get plans in place and ensure that they are kept up-to-date. This is the best way of managing development locally and of ensuring that communities are thoroughly involved in how their areas will develop.
	76% of councils have a published Local Plan and 53% of councils have an adopted Local Plan.
	To place this in context, six years after the Labour Government's 2004 Planning Act, by May 2010, only one in six local planning authorities had an adopted core strategy.

Local Government: Enfield

Nick de Bois: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) managerial and (b) clerical local authority staff in Enfield were paid more than (i) £42,000, (ii) £69,000 and (iii) £100,000 in the last year for which figures are available.

Brandon Lewis: My Department does not collate detailed pay data from local authorities. We believe that there should be greater transparency on senior local government pay and have taken steps to achieve this. Under the Localism Act, councils must now publish an annual pay policy statement which sets out their approach to pay and reward in their organisations, particularly senior pay.
	Under the Transparency Code, councils are expected to publish on-line a range of workforce information including details of senior salaries for employees earning £50,000 or more and detailed organisational charts. We are making this a legal requirement. Councils must also publish information on expenditure on senior remuneration in their annual statement of accounts, a copy of which must be published on-line.

Nurseries

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the number of workplace nurseries available to staff in (a) his Department and (b) his Department's Executive agencies or non-departmental public bodies in (i) 2010, (ii) 2013-14 and (iii) 2014-15.

Brandon Lewis: There have been no workplace nurseries operated by the Department, its Executive agencies or non-departmental public bodies during any of the years in question, including under the last Administration.
	The Government's child care offer will provide flexible support for all eligible working families while maintaining a free, universal early education support. Alongside this, the Government is also taking action to drive up the supply of high quality child care provision and to open up more choice for parents.

Private Rented Housing: Fires

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of domestic fires in the private rented sector in England that have occurred as a result of (a) smoking and (b) electrical fires since 2010.

Brandon Lewis: holding answer 20 March 2014
	This information is not held centrally.

Roads: Lighting

Michael Crockart: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps his Department is taking to encourage local authorities to switch to low-energy street lighting.

Brandon Lewis: Switching to low-energy street lighting could save taxpayers' money and reduce carbon emissions. This is primarily a decision for individual local authorities, reflecting on local circumstances as I outlined in my answer of 10 February 2014, Official Report, columns 419-20W.
	However, my officials are in contact with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Green Investment Bank about how we can help raise awareness of the Green Investment Bank's Green Loan facility as a means of financing such energy efficiency measures.

Sheltered Housing

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the potential benefits of the use of sheltered housing to house families in temporary accommodation; and if he will make a statement.

Kris Hopkins: Local authorities are responsible for the sourcing and provision of temporary accommodation within their district. The law requires that authorities must be satisfied that the accommodation is suitable for homeless households. In considering suitability authorities must, by law, consider whether the accommodation is affordable for the applicant, its size, its condition, its accessibility and also its location.
	In our drive to tackle the unlawful use of bed and breakfast accommodation we have provided almost £2 million to seven local authorities to develop innovative and sustainable solutions to this problem. Between them the seven local authorities have reduced the numbers of families with children in bed and breakfast accommodation for longer than six weeks by 96%.
	In developing solutions to this problem a number of local authorities looked at innovative ways to increase the supply of temporary accommodation, for example using modular accommodation constructed off-site, converting office space to residential and using decommissioned sheltered accommodation.
	This Government have invested £470 million to prevent and tackle all forms of homelessness over the spending review period. The homelessness legislation in England provides one of the strongest safety nets in the world for families with children and vulnerable people who become homeless through no fault of their own.
	The Government have also made common sense changes to the law to allow local authorities to end the main homelessness duty with offers of accommodation in good-quality private sector accommodation. This helps homeless households move to settled accommodation more quickly and means they spend less time in temporary accommodation.
	We have reduced the average stay in temporary accommodation from 20 months at the beginning of 2010 to 14 months now.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Individual Electoral Registration

William Bain: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what steps the Government plan to take to register tenants in the private rented sector when individual electoral registration is introduced.

Greg Clark: Five national organisations and every Electoral Registration Officer in Great Britain are sharing £4.2 million funding aimed at maximising the rate of voter registration, as part of the transition to Individual Electoral Registration.
	These organisations have received funding to find new ways of reaching a range of under-registered groups such as private renters and encouraging them to register to vote. Electoral Registration Officers have been asked to concentrate on areas of under-registration which have historically included private renters,
	Online registration will make it more convenient to register, which will help mobile sections of the population.

Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership (Strategic Economic Plan)

Annette Brooke: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of progress on Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership's Strategic Economic Plan.

Greg Clark: I met with the Dorset LEP on 14 January to discuss their draft Strategic Economic Plan. Their final Plan will be submitted on 31 March and will be fully assessed as part of the Growth Deal negotiation.

Ministerial Visits

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister which countries he has visited in an official capacity in the last 12 months; and which countries he plans to visit in the next 12 months.

Nicholas Clegg: Information regarding ministerial visits is published on a quarterly basis.

Electoral Register

Wayne David: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what steps the Government plan to take to improve the accuracy and completeness of the electoral register.

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what steps the Government plan to take to improve the accuracy and completeness of the electoral register.

Greg Clark: Individual electoral registration will help enhance the accuracy of the register; from June applications will be verified against government records. We will ensure the completeness of the register during the transition to IER by 'confirming' the vast majority of existing electors by matching their records with other public databases.
	Moreover, five national organisations and every local authority in Great Britain are sharing £4.2 million in funding aimed at maximising registration. The introduction of online registration will improve accessibility for groups such as overseas voters and home-movers.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make it his policy to collect data on (a) the proportion of attainers in each region of Great Britain registered to vote, (b) the proportion of people aged 18 to 25 years old and pensioners registered to vote and (c) the proportion of people in receipt of benefits registered to vote.

Greg Clark: The Government have no plans to collect these data.

Devolution and Decentralisation

Peter Lilley: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what recent discussions he has had with his ministerial colleagues on the Government's policy on devolution and decentralisation.

Greg Clark: I meet regularly with ministerial colleagues to discuss the Government's policy of devolution and decentralisation.

Electoral Register: Young People

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 26 January 2014, Official Report, column 570W, on the electoral register: young people, how many times the Student Forum has met since its creation; and what the main outcomes of the forum have been in the last three years.

Greg Clark: The Student Forum has met 16 times across all regions since its launch on 18 July 2013.
	The Forum has secured the involvement of the Higher Education sector to support Electoral Registration Officers in reaching students on an individual basis after the transition to Individual Electoral Registration and promoting the use of online electoral registration after it is launched in England and Wales in June.

Electoral Register: Young People

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 28 January 2014, Official Report, column 510W, on Electoral Register: young people, 
	(1)  what steps his Department has taken to circulate the Rock Enrol! resources to (a) hon. Members, (b) members of the European Parliament, (c) members of the Scottish Parliament, members of the Legislative Assembly and Assembly members, (d) local councillors, (e) schools, colleges and universities and (f) local education authorities;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the number of young people who have been added to the electoral register as a result of Rock Enrol!;
	(3)  what estimate his Department has made of the number of young people registered through Bite the Ballot; what the average cost to the public purse was of each registration through Bite the Ballot; and what the average cost to the public purse has been of each registration arising from the registration campaigns of (a) the Electoral Commission and (b) his Department.

Greg Clark: The Government have made available £4.2 million funding to all 363 local authorities (LAs) and valuation joint boards (VJBs) in Great Britain. The Government have written to Electoral Registration Officers and encouraged them to use this funding to support the delivery of Rock Enrol! in their area. Officials will continue to work closely with LA/VJBs in order to monitor and measure the outcomes.
	The Government are supportive of organisations that promote democratic engagement such as Bite the Ballot and welcomes lessons from their experiences. The Rock Enrol! learning resource is freely available on the gov.uk and Times Education Supplement websites among others. The Government are also working with a range of organisations, including the Association of Citizenship Teachers, to promote the use of Rock Enrol!
	For details of the Electoral Commission's registration activities I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Member for South West Devon (Mr Streeter), on 22 January 2014, Official Report, column 209W.

Politics and Government

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister which political and constitutional reform policies contained in the Coalition Agreement are yet to be delivered.

Greg Clark: The Government continues to work on political and constitutional reform, particularly devolving more powers from Whitehall to our cities and regions.
	Work also continues on the implementation of individual electoral registration, recall of MPs and implementing the statutory register of consultant lobbyists.

ELECTORAL COMMISSION COMMITTEE

Electoral Register: Doncaster

Rosie Winterton: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what the electoral registration figures were in each ward in the recent confirmation dry run conducted in (a)  Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council and (b) Doncaster Central constituency.

Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that the confirmation dry run involved matching all entries on the electoral registers against the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Customer Information System database. Entries would be marked as green if they matched with DWP, amber if they were a partial match or red if there was no match.
	Results for all wards are available on the Commission's website here:
	http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/excel_doc/0003/163146/Confirmation-dry-run-2013-Results-Wards.xls
	The ward results for Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council were as follows:
	
		
			 Percentage 
			 Ward Green matches Amber matches Red matches 
			 Adwick 83.7 1.8 14.5 
			 Armthorpe 81.7 1.1 17.2 
			 Askern Spa 83.3 1.9 14.7 
			 Balby 80.1 1.6 18.3 
			 Bentley 80.3 2.2 17.4 
			 Bessacarr and Cantley 81.3 1.5 17.3 
			 Central 72.4 2.7 25.0 
			 Conisbrough and Denaby 83.2 1.6 15.2 
			 Edenthorpe, Kirk Sandall and Barnby Dun 86.3 1.0 12.7 
			 Edlington and Warmsworth 84.1 1.2 14.6 
			 Finningley 85.5 1.6 12.9 
			 Great North Road 85.0 1.2 13.8 
			 Hatfield 83.4 1.7 15.0 
			 Mexborough 80.6 1.7 17.6 
			 Rossington 84.2 1.1 14.7 
			 Sprotbrough 84.3 1.7 14.0 
			 Stainforth and Moorends 80.4 2.1 17.4 
			 Thorne 82.8 1.9 15.3 
			 Torne Valley 83.2 2.1 14.7 
			 Town Moor 81.7 1.8 16.5 
			 Wheatley 75.0 2.7 22.3 
		
	
	The ward results for the Doncaster Central constituency were as follows:
	
		
			 Percentage 
			 Ward Green matches Amber matches Red matches 
			 Adwick 83.7 1.8 14.5 
			 Askern Spa 83.3 1.9 14.7 
			 Bentley 80.3 2.2 17.4 
			 Great North Road 85.0 1.2 13.8 
			 Mexborough 80.6 1.7 17.6 
			 Rossington 84.2 1.1 14.7 
			 Sprotbrough 84.3 1.7 14.0 
			 Stainforth and Moorends 80.4 2.1 17.4

DEFENCE

Africa

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether any RAF officers are embedded in host forces or otherwise stationed in Niamey, Nigeria or the Seychelles. [R]

Mark Francois: There are no RAF officers embedded in host forces or otherwise stationed in Niamey, Nigeria or the Seychelles.

Air Force: Deployment

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which RAF personnel of each (a) rank, (b) duty and (c) location are currently serving overseas.

Mark Francois: The information will take time to collate. I will write to the right hon. Member as soon as it is available.

Burma

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 5 December 2013, Official Report, column 818W, on Burma, what the name and rank is of the Burmese Army officer visiting the UK for training; and when that officer will be visiting the UK.

Mark Francois: holding answer 20 March 2014
	The officer is attending the UK version of the managing defence in the wider security context course, from 10 March to 25 April 2014 which will take place at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom.
	The Burmese officer is of OF 5 (Colonel) rank. I am withholding his name as this is personal information.

D-Day Landings: Anniversaries

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what discussions he has had with the Scottish Government regarding the 70th anniversary of the D-day landings;
	(2)  what steps he is taking to enable veterans of the D-day landings who are currently living in Scotland to participate in the Normandy 70 commemorations.

Anna Soubry: The Ministry of Defence is working very closely with partners across Government and with external agencies, including the Normandy Veterans Association and the Royal British Legion (RBL), to deliver a fitting programme of commemorations to mark the 70th anniversary of the D-day landings. Veterans planning to attend events in Normandy are being asked to register their interest with the RBL, to allow an estimate of numbers planning to travel and to ensure that they have the necessary information and passes that will be required.
	Veterans resident in Scotland, or anywhere else in the UK or Republic of Ireland, who wish to make the trip to Normandy are invited to apply for financial support from the Big Lottery Fund, which has extended its Heroes Return 2 programme until 31 December 2015. This enables veterans, widows, spouses and carers to apply for travel and accommodation expenses to make trips back to places across the world where they served, or make a commemorative visit within the UK.
	No specific discussions have been held with the Scottish Government or other devolved Administrations on these arrangements, which apply equally to all veterans of the Normandy campaign wherever they live in the UK.

D-Day Landings: Anniversaries

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 19 March 2014, Official Report, column 652W, on D-Day landings: anniversaries, 
	(1)  how many (a) veterans, (b) widows, (c) spouses and (d) carers of veterans have registered their interest with the Royal British Legion regarding their attendance of the 70th anniversary of D-Day commemorations in Normandy;
	(2)  how many (a) veterans, (b) widows, (c) spouses and (d) carers of veterans of the D-Day operations currently reside in the UK;
	(3)  how many (a) veterans, (b) widows, (c) spouses and (d) carers are expected to receive financial support from the Big Lottery Fund for the Heroes Return 2 programme;
	(4)  how much financial support from the Big Lottery Fund for the Heroes Return 2 programme will be given to (a) veterans, (b) widows, (c) spouses and (d) carers wishing to travel to Normandy for the 70th anniversary commemorations of D-Day.

Anna Soubry: The information is not held as the Royal British Legion is the national point of contact for the registration of veterans.

D-Day Landings: Anniversaries

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the contribution to the hon. Member for South West Wiltshire of 17 March 2014, Official Report, column 549W, whether there are plans to commemorate the 70th anniversary of D-Day beyond those he outlined.

Anna Soubry: In addition to the events in Normandy to mark this significant anniversary, the three services will be heavily involved in supporting the D-day events in Portsmouth on 5 June 2014. The services will also be supporting the Normandy Veterans Association event at the Cenotaph on Sunday 22 June, a service at York Minster on 20 July, and a final event which will be the laying up of the National Standard at St Margaret's Church, Westminster Abbey on 16 October 2014.

Defence Academy

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what courses are currently taught at the Defence Academy.

Mark Francois: There are a large number of courses presented at the Defence Academy to develop professional skills and knowledge for defence and security. The course prospectus for 2014 can be found at the following link:
	http://www.da.mod.uk/da-news/defence-academy-courses-at-a-glance/
	and a copy has been placed in the Library of the House.

Defence Infrastructure Organisation

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether (a) a bat, (b) a dormice, (c) a crested newt and (d) an owl survey has been carried out on any Defence Infrastructure Organisation site; what the result of each such survey was; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Murrison: Many protected species surveys are undertaken each year across the Defence estate. This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Defence Infrastructure Organisation

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether any covenants exist on the use of any of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation sites; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Murrison: There are covenants on the use of some Defence Infrastructure Organisation sites but the details could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

DSG Ashchurch

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment has been made of the historic features of DSG Ashchurch.

Andrew Murrison: English Heritage undertook a survey of the historic features of Defence Support Group (DSG) Ashchurch and reported their findings in November 2013. Nothing at DSG Ashchurch was identified for listing or scheduling.

East Africa

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what information his Department holds on (a) how many attempts were made by pirates to seize ships in the seas off East Africa in each of the last five years and (b) how many such attempts were successful.

Mark Francois: The Ministry of Defence does not hold its own record of piracy incidents off the coast of East Africa. Instead it relies on figures produced by specialist bodies who work in consultation with international task forces.
	The UK military remains an active member in countering piracy off the coast of East Africa, either as part of national tasking or when working within a coalition force. For example, the UK participates in three international counter-piracy operations: the European Union's Naval Force Operation ATALANTA; the NATO Operation Ocean Shield; and the multinational Combined Maritime Task Force 151. Collectively these operate off the coast of Somalia, in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden.
	There has been a significant reduction in the number of reported piracy incidents off the coast of East Africa in recent years, in large part due to these international anti-piracy operations. By way of illustration, the European Union's Naval Force hold the following numbers for piracy incidents off the horn of Africa since 2009:
	
		
			 Number 
			  2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 20141 
			 Total attacks 163 174 176 35 7 2 
			 Of which successful 46 47 25 5 0 0 
			 1 So far

HMS Victory

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what meetings Ministers and officials in his Department had with Lord Lingfield about HMS Victory 1744.

Anna Soubry: Since notification of the HMS Victory 1744 wreck site (by Odyssey Marine Exploration) and its transfer to the Maritime Heritage Foundation a number of meetings have been held between officials and Lord Lingfield.
	The Under-Secretary of State and Lords Spokesman on Defence, my noble friend Lord Astor of Hever, has recently attended two meetings chaired by the Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, my hon. Friend the Member for Wantage (Mr Vaizey), with Lord Lingfield (and his representative) and the Government's Advisory Group (consisting of English Heritage, the National Museum of the Royal Navy, the Receiver of Wreck, and the Marine Management Organisation), to discuss the wreck of HMS Victory 1744.

NATO

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many NATO training exercises in Europe UK forces have been involved in each year since 2010.

Mark Francois: The number of NATO training exercises that the UK's armed forces have participated in each year since 2010 is as follows:
	
		
			  Number 
			 2010 8 
			 2011 10 
			 2012 12 
			 2013 11

NATO

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Typhoon aircraft will be provided for the NATO Baltic Air Policing mission; where they will be based; whether they will replace the USAF F-15 aircraft from RAF Lakenheath; and when they will arrive.

Mark Francois: The UK has offered up to four Typhoons to NATO. These would augment the Polish Baltic Air Policing rotation which runs from 1 May-31 August 2014, after the current US rotation. No decision has been made on where we would base our aircraft if our offer is accepted. We expect a response from NATO by 1 April 2014.

Nuclear Installations

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the future cost of the decommissioning of facilities at (a) AWE Aldermaston, (b) AWE Burghfield and (c) Sellafield once the operating life of those facilities has come to an end.

Andrew Murrison: The cost associated with the decommissioning, care and maintenance of current facilities at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston and Burghfield was estimated to be in the order of £1.1 billion as at 31 March 2013, at 2012-13 prices. This figure includes the conditioning, retrieval and storage of contaminated materials.
	The MOD has no responsibility for decommissioning the Sellafield site, facilities or equipment. This falls to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). The nuclear provision for NDA sites, including Sellafield, is set out in the NDA annual report and accounts, the latest version of which was published in June 2013.

Rescue Services

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many times his Department has provided top-cover fixed wing search and rescue assets for a search and rescue mission in each of the last two years; and what aircraft were used in each case.

Mark Francois: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 8 November 2013, Official Report, column 401W. There have been no further requests for top-cover fixed wing search and rescue assets since 4 November 2013.

Type 23 Frigates

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions an (a) inert Test Variant and (b) armed torpedo was accidentally fired from a Type 23 frigate in the last 15 years, by location.

Mark Francois: One incident has been recorded of an (unarmed) training variant torpedo unexpectedly jettisoning from a Type 23 frigate in the last 15 years, which occurred at Her Majesty's Naval Base Devonport on 12 March 2014. There are no incidents recorded of any armed torpedoes being accidentally fired from Type 23 frigates in the last 15 years.

Ukraine

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions his Department had with the US authorities about the decision to send F-15s from RAF Lakenheath to Ukraine; and whether the Government's permission was requested by the US Air Force.

Mark Francois: United States Air Force F-15 aircraft from RAF Lakenheath have not been deployed to Ukraine.

Uranium

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what contribution has been made by the UK to the remediation of uranium mines and milling sites abroad from which uranium has been procured for military uses.

Andrew Murrison: We are unaware of any UK funding provided for remediation of uranium mines and milling sites from which uranium was procured.

USA

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will give consideration to contributing to the remediation of the US nuclear warhead test site in Nevada in proportion to the usage permitted at the site to the UK nuclear warhead testing programme.

Andrew Murrison: No.

Wrecks

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what shipwrecks discovered by Odyssey Marine Exploration have been referred to his Department.

Anna Soubry: Odyssey Marine Exploration has contacted the Ministry of Defence in regard to two wreck sites—HMS Sussex and HMS Victory (1744).

Wrecks

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many wrecks other than HMS Victory his Department has transferred to third parties, charities or other organisations since 1984.

Anna Soubry: None.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Bilateral Aid: Nutrition

Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development with reference to her Department's policy of moving towards multilateral investment, how she plans to ensure that money for nutrition funded through bilateral channels is used effectively.

Lynne Featherstone: The Department does not have a policy of moving towards multilaterals. More on multilaterais can be found in the Multilateral Aid Review which is published on the Government website.
	The Department has rigorous internal systems to ensure that funds are used effectively. A business case is mandatory for all new funding proposals, which have been strengthened by the Secretary of State for International Development, the right hon. Member for Putney (Justine Greening). All businesses over £5 million are submitted to the Secretary of State for approval. Formal reviews of programmes are required annually and at completion, to assesses and record the results delivered. These documents are published on DFID's development tracker website.

Gurkha Welfare Trust

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what projects the Gurkha Welfare Trust have delivered since June 2010; and how often the trust reports on its work.

Justine Greening: The Gurkha Welfare Trust is an independent charity.

Gurkha Welfare Trust

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what resources her Department has given to the Gurkha Welfare Trust since June 2010.

Justine Greening: DFID has given no money directly to the Gurkha Welfare Trust (GWT). DFID Nepal co-finances the Rural Water and Sanitation Programme (RWSP) with the GWT.

International Co-operation: Nutrition

Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what plans her Department has to (a) participate in the 2012 International Conference on Nutrition and (b) help shape the agenda on (i) stunting and wasting and (ii) other aspects of malnutrition.

Lynne Featherstone: The Nutrition for Growth event took place in 2013 and International Conference on Nutrition is due to happen in November 2014.
	My Department is fully engaged with colleagues across Government and member states in preparatory work for the second International Conference on Nutrition due to be held in Rome this November. The UK is seeking to build on the international consensus and commitments made at the 2013 Nutrition for Growth event in London to reduce stunting by 20 million children by 2020.

Jordan

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions she has had with her Jordanian counterpart on access of Syrian refugees to work permits in Jordan.

Justine Greening: DFID is in regular contact with Jordanian Government officials and local and international non-governmental organisations.

Non-governmental Organisations

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development
	(1)  how much her Department has spent on non-governmental organisations operating in each country in each year since 2010;
	(2)  what proportion of work funded by her Department and carried out by non-governmental organisations since 2010 has been concerned with (a) peace building, (b) environmental issues, (c) health issues and (d) provision of food and water.

Lynne Featherstone: The Department for International Development (DFID) supports Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) through a range of centrally managed funds and country programmes. Details of funding provided to UK based CSOs can be found in Table 19 of Statistics on International Development which is available on the UK Government website:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/table-19-dfid-expenditure-through-uk-csos-2011-12
	DFID's overseas offices also provide support to local civil society organisations.
	In 2010-11 the UK Government introduced the Aid Transparency Guarantee. This commits DFID to making details of all the projects we fund available for public scrutiny. Details can be found through the Development Tracker on the UK Governments website:
	http://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/

Overseas Aid: Nutrition

Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development in how many countries other than Ethiopia and Yemen her Department has developed nutrition programmes to bridge the gap between short-term emergency aid and longer-term nutrition programmes to prevent severe acute malnutrition; and to which countries she plans to expand these programmes in 2014.

Lynne Featherstone: DFID is funding multi-year nutrition-related programmes in Sudan, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda in addition those in Ethiopia and Yemen. These programmes aim to bridge the gap between humanitarian aid and longer-term funding. The programmes treat and prevent acute malnutrition and are linked to the objective of building resilience, for example, against economic shocks or climate related natural disasters.

Sri Lanka

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions she had with her Sri Lankan counterpart on the resettling of the population of Myliddy village.

Justine Greening: DFID closed its bilateral programme in Sri Lanka in 2006. HMG Ministers continue to raise the issue of internally displaced persons (IDPs) with the Sri Lankan Government, including the Prime Minister during his visit last November.

Tanzania

Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions her Department has had with the Tanzanian Government about addressing the issue of informal school fees that make completion of basic education unaffordable to poor families.

Lynne Featherstone: DFID and other development partners have had discussions with the Government of Tanzania and have made support conditional on the Government of Tanzania releasing their capitation grants in full.

Tanzania

Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions her Department has had with the Tanzanian Government about improving teacher salaries and conditions to attract more new teachers to the profession.

Lynne Featherstone: DFID has engaged the Government of Tanzania on the issue of teachers' salaries and conditions of work in the context of delivery of quality public services through the General Budget Support dialogue, Public and Civil Service reform programme and Education Sector Dialogue.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Burma

David Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on whether the production of illegal drugs in Burma is decreasing; and which countries illegal drugs produced in Burma are exported to.

Hugo Swire: At the invitation of the Burmese Government, officers from the Serious Organised Crime Agency, now the National Crime Agency, visited Burma in May 2013. During this visit, the issue of drug production and trafficking was discussed with the Burmese authorities and separately with the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) country representative. Other organised crime issues were also discussed, including child sexual exploitation, human trafficking and money laundering.
	We have not received reports that illegal drug production in Burma is decreasing. Reports indicate that Burma remains the world's second highest producer of opium, after Afghanistan. The UNODC reported in its South East Asia Opium Survey 2013 that poppy cultivation rose from 51,000 to 57,800 hectares between 2012 and 2013. The main transiting countries for Burmese opium are those which border Burma to the east, namely China, Laos and Thailand. The production of methamphetamine is also a growing concern in Burma, with the majority of the production in Burma exported to neighbouring countries.

Iran

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the (a) report to the Human Rights Council by the UN Secretary-General on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran of 11 March 2014 and (b) human rights (i) generally, (ii) of Bahá'ís and (iii) of other religious minorities in Iran since the election of President Rouhani; and if he will make a statement.

Hugh Robertson: We welcome the report by the UN Secretary-General on human rights in Iran and agree with its assessment.
	We are yet to see any overall improvement in human rights under President Rouhani although there have been some positive steps. We are in particular concerned by Iran's use of the death penalty and the treatment of religious minorities.
	Members of the Baha'i faith face persecution and arbitrary arrest and detention. Some Christian minorities also suffer similar treatment. We regularly express our concern—both publicly and in our diplomatic contacts—about the human rights situation in Iran. We call on the Iranian Government to ensure that all Iranian citizens enjoy fundamental rights and freedoms.

Kashmir

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of human rights in Kashmir.

Hugo Swire: We are aware of allegations of human rights abuses on both sides of the Line of Control in Kashmir. We are clear that such allegations of human rights abuses must be investigated thoroughly, promptly and transparently. We regularly raise concerns through our high commissions in Islamabad and Delhi as appropriate.

Nuclear Security Summit

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which Ministers and officials will represent the UK at the third nuclear security summit in The Hague on 24 and 25 March 2014; which think-tanks, academics or research institutes have been consulted in preparing the UK submission for the summit; and if he will post on his Department's website all submissions made by the UK to the preparatory meetings for the summit and at the summit itself.

Hugh Robertson: The Prime Minister will represent the UK at the third Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague on 24 and 25 March 2014. Several organisations have contributed suggestions for the UK's contributions to the Summit. The UK's written statements will be published on the Summit website.

Occupied Territories

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the effect of the proposed new settlement in Hebron on the freedom of movement and human rights of the local Palestinian population;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the proposed new settlement in Hebron on peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians;
	(3)  what discussions he has had with his Israeli counterpart on potential new settlements in Hebron;
	(4)  what discussions he has had with his counterparts in other EU member states on potential new settlements in Hebron.

Hugh Robertson: Our ambassador to Tel Aviv has raised our strong concerns over the recent verdict by the Israeli Supreme Court on the “House of Contention” in Hebron with the Israeli Ministry of Justice, in line with the UK's clear and long-standing position on the illegality of all settlements. The UK considers that settlements undermine trust, prospects for peace and the viability of the two-state solution. We regularly discuss the issue of settlements with our EU partners.

Palestinians

David Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assistance his Department has given to the Palestinian Authority in tackling incitement in the Palestinian Territories. [R]

Hugh Robertson: The UK regularly condemns incitement and we register our concerns with both the Israeli and Palestinian authorities. We encourage both sides to do more to promote a culture of tolerance and to prepare their populations for peace. We warmly welcome a recent agreement to re-form a trilateral committee, involving Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the US, to prevent incitement.

Palestinians

David Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Palestinian Authority on recent comments by senior Fatah official Abbas Zaki who said God will assemble Jews to be killed by Palestinians. [R]

Hugh Robertson: We have not made representations to the Palestinian Authority about comments made by Abbas Zaki. We deplore all incitement to violence and continually urge the leadership of both the Palestinian and Israeli authorities to avoid engaging in, or encouraging, the type of action and language which will make it more difficult to achieve a peaceful negotiated solution to the conflict.

Palestinians

Bob Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent assessment he has made of the Palestinian Authority's adherence to its road map commitment to end incitement against Israel.

Hugh Robertson: We deplore all incitement to violence and continually urge the leadership on both sides to avoid engaging in, or encouraging, the type of action and language which will make it more difficult to achieve a peaceful negotiated solution to the conflict. We consider that the Palestinian Authority under President Abbas and Prime Minister Hamdallah has demonstrated genuine commitment to non-violence and a negotiated two-state solution.

Syria

Lee Scott: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on whether senior commanders from Iran's Quds Force are assisting President Bashar Assad in Syria.

Hugh Robertson: Iran continues to support the Assad regime through the provision of Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) Qods Force personnel, weaponry and billions of dollars of financial support. In June 2011, the following senior IRGC commanders were sanctioned under EU Syria sanctions: Brigadier Commander Mohammad Ali Jafari, General Commander, IRGC; Major General Qassem Suleimani, Commander of Special Forces, IRGC Qods; and Hossein Taeb, Deputy IRGC Commander for Intelligence. We continue to monitor Iranian activity in Syria.

Ukraine

Rory Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many officials in his Department currently posted to Kiev are classified as extensive speakers of Ukrainian.

Hugh Robertson: British diplomats abroad are required to speak local languages to differing degrees and levels, and the requirements assessed for each job. “Extensive” is a very high level of near native fluency, and only a small number of positions are classed as requiring fluency to "Extensive" level. The majority of positions for which language proficiency is required are classed as requiring an "Operational" level, meaning that staff have degree-level skills and are able to conduct business in the language effectively. The ambassador to Kyiv is classed as requiring operational Ukrainian, and the current ambassador is judged to perform at that level. The embassy employs 60 staff, both UK-based and locally-employed. Six of the UK-based diplomatic staff currently at post speak Russian to an operational level, and our 42 local staff all speak Ukrainian and Russian.

United Arab Emirates

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the detention of Osama al-Najjar in the UAE.

Hugh Robertson: We have received no specific reports of the detention of this individual.

United Arab Emirates

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the number of people imprisoned in the United Arab Emirates for posts made on social media networks.

Hugh Robertson: We do not hold information on the number of individuals imprisoned on charges relating to their use of social media.

United Arab Emirates

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the treatment in custody in the United Arab Emirates of Jamal al-Hammadi.

Hugh Robertson: We have received no specific reports of the imprisonment or detention conditions of this individual.

Unmanned Air Vehicles

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 17 March 2014, Official Report, column 417W, on unmanned air vehicles, what steps his Department has taken to respond to the UN Special Rapporteur's recommendation on the urgent and imperative need to reach a consensus on reapplicable legal principles between states. [R]

Hugh Robertson: We welcome the report of the UN Special Rapporteur which identifies a number of interesting legal questions. The Government's position is that existing international law sufficiently covers the use of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems. We are carefully considering the recommendations.

INDEPENDENT PARLIAMENTARY STANDARDS AUTHORITY COMMITTEE

Matrix Chambers

David Davis: To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, what procurement process was conducted by IPSA in advance of the decision to engage Matrix Chambers to prepare and advise on High Court action in May 2013 in respect of their case against the hon. Member for Peterborough; and if he will make a statement

Charles Walker: The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
	Substantive answer from Charles Walker to David Davis:
	The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. I have asked IPSA to reply.
	Letter from Andrew McDonald, March 2013
	As Chief Executive of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking about the engagement of Matrix Chambers. Counsel from Matrix Chambers were identified as one of IPSA's preferred legal Counsel as part of a tender exercise for legal services in 2010.
	Accordingly, Counsel from Matrix Chambers were instructed by IPSA's solicitors, Addleshaw Goddard LLP, in connection with the matter in March 2013.

TRANSPORT

Aviation

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  whether the £20 million of annual funding for the Regional Air Connectivity Fund referred to in The Budget 2014, paragraph 2.42 is additional to the £20 million of funding to improve regional air links referred to in, Investing in Britain's Future, produced by HM Treasury in June 2013, paragraph 8.8;
	(2)  what grants have been approved under the Regional Air Connectivity Fund since its launch;
	(3)  whether (a) Manchester Airport, (b) Newcastle Airport, (c) Birmingham Airport and (d) Liverpool Airport will meet the requisite passenger number specifications to receive the Regional Air Connectivity Fund;
	(4)  pursuant to Investing in Britain's Future produced by HM Treasury in June 2013, paragraph 8.8, how much of the £20 million referred to has been allocated already; and for what purposes such funding has been issued.

Robert Goodwill: As part of the 2013 spending round announcement on 27 June 2013, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the right hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (Danny Alexander), announced that £10 million would be made available in each of financial years 2014-15 and 2015-16 to maintain regional air access to London through the establishment of a Public Service Obligation (PSO), where there was the probability that an existing air service would be lost. The Department for Transport is in detailed discussions with regional councils regarding two routes that might qualify for support through a PSO under these conditions. Of these, Dundee council are currently tendering for an airline to operate a service between Dundee airport and London.
	The Chancellor of the Exchequer, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne), announced in this year's Budget that funding to maintain existing air connectivity to London would increase from £10 million to £20 million per year. The Chancellor also announced that support will be provided for start-up aid for new air routes from UK regional airports. European Union aviation State aid guidelines allow for provision of start-up aid to facilitate start up of new routes from airports which handle fewer than five million passengers per annum. This currently includes Liverpool and Newcastle airports, but not Birmingham and Manchester airports. The Department for Transport is working with the Treasury to develop guidance that will clarify how the Government will ordinarily expect to interpret the European Union guidelines, and explain how the funding process will work.

Dartford-Thurrock Crossing

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many vehicle crossings of the Thames were made through the Rotherhithe and Blackwall tunnels in 2013.

Robert Goodwill: Data for 2013 are not yet available; the remainder of this answer refers to 2012 data.
	A table providing the 2012 estimated annual average daily flows (AADFs) for road links covering the Rotherhithe and Blackwall tunnels (for both directions combined) are shown in the following table:
	
		
			 2012 AADF Total motor vehicles 
			 Rotherhithe tunnel 32,615 
			 Blackwall tunnel 69,243 
		
	
	These figures give estimates of the number of vehicles travelling along individual sections of road on an average day of the year.
	To calculate an estimate of the annual usage of the tunnels (for both directions combined); these daily AADF estimates would be multiplied by the 365 days in a year.
	AADF data for individual motorway and 'A' road links for 2000-12 are available on our website, here:
	http://data.gov.uk/dataset/gb-road-traffic-counts

Gospel Oak-Barking Railway Line

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how the Barking Riverside extension of the Gospel Oak to Barking Line will be funded.

Stephen Hammond: The Government have committed to work with the GLA to develop proposals for an extension of the Gospel Oak to Barking Line to Barking Riverside to help unlock the construction of up to 11,000 new homes but at this stage of development no decision has been taken on funding options.

Great Western Railway Line

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what agreement his Department has reached with the Welsh Government regarding the funding of electrification of the Great Western Line to Swansea and the Valleys Lines.

Stephen Hammond: The Welsh and UK Governments agreed in 2012 to fund the electrification of the Valley Lines and the South Wales Main Line between Cardiff and Swansea. That agreement still stands and Network Rail is developing plans for electrification.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment his Department has made of the effect of an extension to Crewe of the first phase of High Speed 2 on the (a) route through Lichfield constituency and (b) need for an additional railway line north of the City of Lichfield connecting the end of Phase one to the West Coast mainline.

Robert Goodwill: No decision has yet been made on Phase Two as we are still considering the responses to the public consultation. Sir David Higgins's proposals would see the Government's preferred route to Crewe, which formed part of the recent Phase Two consultation, constructed earlier. Therefore, it is not anticipated that Sir David's proposal alone would affect the route through the Lichfield constituency. However, the route of Phase Two through the Lichfield constituency is clearly subject to the outcomes of the recent public consultation.
	The powers for Phase Two, including the section of line to Crewe, are proposed to be sought via a second hybrid Bill. As such the connection to the West Coast Main Line as part of the Phase One Bill is still required to allow Phase One to operate effectively and to enable destinations such as Stafford to benefit from high speed services.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  whether the London to Holyhead railway service will remain an express service after the creation of High Speed 2;
	(2)  what plans he has to develop the North Wales line from Crewe to Holyhead in conjunction with the building of High Speed 2;
	(3)  what assessment his Department has made of whether the London to Holyhead line will become a local stopping service following the building of High Speed 2.

Stephen Hammond: No such assessment has been made. The opening of High Speed 2 will release capacity for train services on existing lines, including on the West Coast Main Line. Precise details of stopping patterns will be resolved when the relevant rail franchises are let in due course.
	In the meantime, we will shortly announce a transparent and participatory process to consider long-term issues, opportunities and options for rail services on HS2 corridors.
	We are also working with the Welsh Government who are developing a business case for the electrification of the North Wales Main Line.

Level Crossings

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of steps taken to improve the safety of level crossings since the death of Emma Lifsey in Bassetlaw constituency on 4 December 2012.

Stephen Hammond: The Secretary of State for Transport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Derbyshire Dales (Mr McLoughlin), has made no assessment of the steps taken to improve the safety of level crossings. The safety of level crossings is a matter for Network Rail. The industry recommended further investment be provided in the 2014-19 period for level crossing closures and safety measures and a £109 million ring fenced fund was agreed by the Government for this period.

Level Crossings

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many level crossings have wig-wag lights which are so old that they present a danger to the public.

Stephen Hammond: The Department for Transport does not hold this data. Prosecutions are a matter for the Office of Rail Regulation, the independent safety regulator for the railways, as the relevant enforcement authority.
	More information can be obtained from:
	Network Rail
	Kings Place
	90 York Way
	London
	N1 9 AG
	Telephone: 020 7557 8000

Level Crossings

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the Office of Rail Regulation plans to prosecute Network Rail in relation to the conclusions of the Rail Accident Investigation Branch that the wig-wag lights in place on 4 December 2012, in relation to the incident which killed Emma Lifsey, were old and could not be seen.

Stephen Hammond: Prosecutions are a matter for the Office of Rail Regulation, the independent safety regulator for the railways, as the relevant enforcement authority.
	More information can be obtained from:
	The Office of Rail Regulation
	One Kemble Street
	London
	WC2B 4AN
	Telephone: 020 7282 2000

Level Crossings

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions he has had with Network Rail on the treatment of Emma Lifsey's family by Network Rail following her death on a level crossing.

Stephen Hammond: The Secretary of State for Transport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Derbyshire Dales (Mr McLoughlin), has had no discussions with Network Rail on this matter. Level crossing safety policy matters are discussed on a regular basis with Network Rail at an official level.

Merchant Shipping (Diving Safety) Regulations 2002

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 16 May 2013, Official Report, column 335W, on the Merchant Shipping (Diving Safety) Regulations 2002, 
	(1)  what discussions (a) Ministers in his Department and (b) officials from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency have held with the Health and Safety Executive regarding the implications for diver safety or revoking the regulations; and what the outcomes were of those discussions;
	(2)  whether it is still his policy to pursue revocation of the regulations.

Stephen Hammond: It is still our policy to revoke the Merchant Shipping (Diving Safety) Regulations 2002.
	There have been no specific discussions between Ministers or the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) regarding the implications for diver safety or revoking the regulations since May 2013. However, the proposal was raised by the MCA at a meeting with HSE's Offshore Division in July 2013 to consider a range of regulatory issues affecting the offshore sector, and it was agreed to discuss in more detail as the proposals are developed, and prior to any changes to the regulations.

Offshore Industry

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the current level of (a) use and (b) availability is amongst offshore helicopter passengers in the oil and gas industry of emergency breathing systems that meet Category A of the Civil Aviation Authority's relevant technical specifications.

Robert Goodwill: There are currently no Category ‘A’ emergency breathing systems (EBS) in use by, or available to, passengers on UK offshore helicopter flights. The EBS currently in use in the UK sector of the North sea does not meet the Civil Aviation Authority's (CAA) higher Category ‘A’ specification contained in CAA Publication CAP 1034, primarily because it takes too long to deploy. The EBS used in the Norwegian sector also does not meet the Category ‘A’ requirement, primarily as it cannot be deployed underwater.
	EBS that would likely meet Category ‘A’ is commercially available. In particular the passenger short term air supply system (P-STASS) developed for the UK military, which the CAA understands is currently being considered by the industry, has previously been used for civilian operations (e.g. the Marine Incident Response Group).

Offshore Industry

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the potential effect of implementing the recommendations in the Civil Aviation Authority's safety review of helicopter operations in the offshore oil and gas industry on the annual number of passenger-carrying helicopter flights in that industry.

Robert Goodwill: The primary concern of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is the safety of the public, and the absolute focus of its recent Offshore Helicopter Review has been to make safety improvements in that sector. I am satisfied that implementing the recommendations in the CAA Review will lead to improvements in safety and that all the changes proposed are both realistic and achievable. The CAA is directly engaging with the oil and gas industry, helicopter operators and workforce representative groups through its new Safety Action Group. I do not see that recommendations contained in the Review will have any significant effect on the annual number of offshore helicopter operations.

Railways: Kent

Gordon Henderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans the Government have to improve the rail infrastructure on the North Kent rail line.

Stephen Hammond: The Government are working with Network Rail, train operators and Kent county council to progress the case for journey time reductions between Ashford and Ramsgate by 2019 through infrastructure improvements. Funding is available for this, subject to a satisfactory business case.

River Thames: Bridges

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what criteria his Department used in the decision to include the Garden Bridge in the Government’s National Infrastructure Plan.

Stephen Hammond: The National Infrastructure Plan 2013 sets out the Government's long-term plan to ensure that it can deliver the investment required to meet the UK's infrastructure needs to 2020 and beyond. The Garden Bridge is not one of the Government's ‘Top 40’ projects as set out in the plan, but it is part of the 'infrastructure pipeline', which includes large capital programmes of investment worth £50 million or over.

River Thames: Bridges

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will commission a study of the case for a new cycle and pedestrian crossing of the Thames east of Tower Bridge.

Stephen Hammond: Transport in London is the responsibility of the Mayor and Transport for London (TfL) as per the terms of the Greater London Authority Act 1999. Any decision to commission a study into a new cycle and pedestrian Thames crossing would therefore be a matter for the Mayor of London.

Road Traffic Offences

Richard Fuller: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what consideration he has given to exempting motorists from being prosecuted for traffic light offences if they have committed the offence while making way for an emergency vehicle.

Robert Goodwill: The law is specific on a driver's requirement to comply with traffic signs, which include signals, as defined in section 36 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. There is no exemption for members of the public from this, even to give way to emergency vehicles.
	Clear passage should always be given (where possible) to prevent delay to emergency vehicles responding to calls, by taking reasonable action such as pulling into the side of the road. If a driver were to go through a red light to allow an emergency vehicle to pass, in most cases where no danger was caused to other road users and it was done reasonably a police officer would not be expected to enforce this. Should a red-light running camera record a traffic light violation, any claim would be supported by the emergency vehicle also being captured in a similar way. The courts would be likely to listen to mitigating circumstances and again, if done safely and or reasonably it is unlikely there would be any prosecution.

Rotherhithe Tunnel

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many journeys through the Rotherhithe tunnel were made by bicycle in 2013.

Robert Goodwill: Data for 2013 are not yet available; the remainder of this answer refers to 2012 data. A table providing the 2012 estimated pedal cycle annual average daily flow (AADF) for the road link covering the Rotherhithe tunnel (for both directions combined) is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 2012 AADF 
			  Pedal cycles 
			 Rotherhithe tunnel 239 
		
	
	This figure gives an estimate of the number of pedal cycles travelling along the individual section of road on an average day of the year.
	To calculate an estimate of the annual pedal cycle usage of the tunnel (for both directions combined); this daily AADF estimate would be multiplied by the 365 days in a year.
	AADF data for individual motorway and ‘A’ road links for 2000-2012 are available on our website, here:
	http://data.gov.uk/dataset/gb-road-traffic-counts

Travel: Concessions

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the level of cross-subsidy between fare paying passengers and those using the concessionary travel scheme (a) generally and (b) in rural areas.

Stephen Hammond: Concessionary travel schemes are considered to be public service obligations.
	Legislation requires bus operators to accept statutory concessionary bus pass holders for free travel on off-peak journeys within England, and are reimbursed fordoing so. Bus operators may not solicit or accept payment for such journeys.
	Reimbursement is provided on the basis that operators are “no better and no worse off” for carrying concessionary pass holders, and we therefore do not believe this to constitute a subsidy.
	The Department publishes guidance to help authorities calculate appropriate reimbursement rates. We are unaware of any cross-subsidy between fare paying and concessionary pass holding passengers occurring in rural areas or elsewhere.

HEALTH

Alcoholic Drinks and Drugs: Rehabilitation

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information Public Health England collects from health and well-being boards about their current and future spending on drugs and alcohol treatment services.

Jane Ellison: Local authorities (LAs) are required to report to Public Health England (PHE) and national Government on their actual spend on interventions for adult drugs, adult alcohol and young people’s substance misuse from their public health grant allocations on an annual basis.
	Drug treatment continues to be a key priority for the Government. In a letter announcing the 2013-14 and 2014-15 public health ring-fenced grants, the Secretary of State for Health, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), and PHE’s chief executive, Duncan Selbie, highlighted substance misuse as one of the key non-mandated services and described the major opportunity for LAs to work in partnership with the voluntary sector, police and crime commissioners and the private sector to deliver these critical services resulting in better outcomes for local populations.
	On 28 February 2014, PHE in conjunction with the Association of Directors of Public Health, announced a one-off review of LAs in England to ascertain their commissioning intentions for improving prevention programmes and rates of drug and alcohol recovery. This will describe the approaches undertaken by LAs and provide evidence to inform Government policy.

Cancer

John Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent steps he has taken to align the questions in the Cancer Patient Experience Survey with the quality statements of the NICE Breast cancer quality standard.

Jane Ellison: Since 1 April 2013, NHS England has been responsible for commissioning the National Cancer Patient Experience Survey (NCPES). The 2014 survey is currently under way and publication is expected later in the year.
	The questions in the survey are designed to capture the experience of patients with all types of cancer at different stages of their care and are therefore deliberately not 'cancer type specific'. However, some questions in the NCPES, such as those about being given the name of a clinical nurse specialist and the provision of a written care plan, are relevant to the statements in the Breast Cancer Quality Standard on those issues.
	The development of the survey is overseen by the cancer patient experience advisory group, run by NHS England, which has members from a range of cancer services, charities and experts.

Diabetes

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people with (a) Type 1 and (b) Type 2 diabetes have had a major lower limb amputation in each of the last five years in each clinical commissioning group area.

Jane Ellison: The information is not available in the format requested.
	The following table shows data on the number of finished consultant episodes with a primary diagnosis of type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes with a main or secondary procedure involving the amputation of a lower limb, by strategic health authority (SHA) of residence, 2008-09 to 2012-13.
	
		
			 Count of finished consultant episodes (FCE's) with a primary diagnosis of (a) Type 1 diabetes and (b) Type 2 diabetes with a main or secondary procedure involving the amputation of a lower limb, by SHA of residence, 2008-09 to 2012-13 
			 Activity in English NHS hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector 
			 (a) Type 1 diabetes 
			 SHA code Description 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 Q30 North East Strategic Health Authority 28 30 17 15 14 
			 Q31 North West Strategic Health Authority 52 41 42 54 39 
			 Q32 Yorkshire and the Humber Strategic Health Authority 29 24 55 44 43 
			 Q33 East Midlands Strategic Health Authority 54 56 35 32 31 
			 Q34 West Midlands Strategic Health Authority 55 38 35 60 44 
			 Q35 East of England Strategic Health Authority 38 52 50 33 32 
			 Q36 London Strategic Health Authority 39 27 47 46 16 
			 Q37 South East Coast Strategic Health Authority 34 32 43 30 23 
			 Q38 South Central Strategic Health Authority 21 23 30 30 25 
			 Q39 South West Strategic Health Authority 44 60 64 30 48 
			 Y Unknown 2 — 2 3 1 
			  Not England 5 3 1 3 2 
		
	
	
		
			 (b) Type 2 diabetes 
			 SHA code Description 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 Q30 North East Strategic Health Authority 63 76 74 80 48 
			 Q31 North West Strategic Health Authority 191 220 188 191 163 
			 Q32 Yorkshire and the Humber Strategic Health Authority 141 137 187 223 176 
			 Q33 East Midlands Strategic Health Authority 170 166 201 173 134 
			 Q34 West Midlands Strategic Health Authority 182 164 187 210 167 
			 Q35 East of England Strategic Health Authority 225 232 253 251 155 
		
	
	
		
			 Q36 London Strategic Health Authority 194 170 233 232 176 
			 Q37 South East Coast Strategic Health Authority 128 134 151 166 109 
			 Q38 South Central Strategic Health Authority 127 119 145 163 98 
			 Q39 South West Strategic Health Authority 258 266 246 270 150 
			 Y Unknown 6 6 3 6 11 
			  Not England 10 5 5 10 8 
			 Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), The Health and Social Care Information Centre.

Diabetes

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure that insulin pump therapy is available to people with diabetes. [R]

Jane Ellison: It is the responsibility of NHS England to ensure that commissioners and providers make insulin pumps available for those people with diabetes who meet the criteria recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).
	NICE 2008 guidance recommends pump therapy as an option for adults and children over the age of 12 years with Type 1 diabetes, provided that multiple-daily insulin therapy has failed. It also recommends that insulin pump therapy can be used for children younger than 12 years with Type 1 diabetes, provided specific criteria are met.
	Insulin pump therapy is not appropriate for everyone as it requires self-management and regular close monitoring. People who commence insulin pumps need to have a detailed structured education programme and good clinical support to maintain and support them on this therapy. All decisions about insulin pump therapy must be made in consultation between the patient (and/or their parents or carer) and their health care professional.

Diabetes

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has commissioned or undertaken on links between mental health conditions and Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. [R]

Daniel Poulter: There is a range of current and recent research on this topic funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) or by the Department's Policy Research Programme.
	The NIHR has funded a £0.8 million clinician scientist award investigating the relationship between severe mental illness, metabolic disease and second generation antipsychotic drugs.
	The NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) Greater Manchester is conducting a trial to test the effectiveness of collaborative care for people with depression and diabetes and/or coronary heart disease.
	The NIHR (CLAHRC) Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland has carried out a study of the feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness of screening and management for depressive symptoms and diabetes distress for the prevention of deteriorating glycaemic control in people with Type 2 diabetes.
	The Policy Research Unit in Economic Evaluation of Health and Care Interventions is carrying out a project on modelling of care pathways for people with diabetes and depression.

Diabetes

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment NHS England has made of links between eating disorders and diabetes; what steps NHS England is taking to ensure that eating disorder services provide support to people (a) diagnosed with and (b) at risk of developing diabetes; and if he will make a statement.

Norman Lamb: NHS England has not undertaken a specific assessment of the links between eating disorders and diabetes, however it is aware of the increased risk around eating disorders for people with diabetes and this is something that the Eating Disorders Clinical Reference Group (CRG) will discuss further.
	NHS England has a CRG specific to specialised services for eating disorders. The CRG has developed a national service specification which covers intensive treatments (in-patient and intensive day-patients) and some outreach/out-patient work for adults with very severe and intractable eating disorders. It does not cover community eating disorder services commissioned by clinical commissioning groups. The aims of the service are to:
	Limit the physical and psychiatric morbidity, social disability and mortality levels caused by eating disorders.
	Effectively treat people with very complex eating disorders and/or severe morbidity.
	Minimise the length of time between referral and admission to the inpatient service.
	All patients are managed with a Care Programme Approach. Patients with eating disorders may require care in a Specialist Adult Eating Disorder Centre if they experience rapid and/or sustained weight loss with evidence of system or organ failure, which is potentially life threatening; have had out-patient psychological treatment that has not been sufficient to effect a change or improvement, and/or are very low weight (usually chronically unwell), are not able to manage in daily life and require help with weight stabilisation or modest weight restoration. Around 900 individuals each year need access to this service.
	Eating disorder patients accessing tier 4 (in-patient) services, including patients with diabetes, will receive support from a variety of specialist clinicians.

Diabetes

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many diabetes-related limb amputations took place in the NHS in each year since 2008; what assessment he has made of the proportion of those amputations which may have been preventable; and if he will make a statement. [R]

Jane Ellison: The table shows the number of finished consultant episodes1 with a primary diagnosis2 of diabetes and a primary or secondary procedure3 of amputation, by year for 2008-09 to 2012-13.
	The Department has made no recent assessment of the proportion of these amputations which may have been preventable. However, NHS England recently published ‘Action for Diabetes’, which sets out that in many cases amputation as a result of diabetes is avoidable.
	
		
			  Finished Consultant Episodes 
			 2008-09 2,197 
			 2009-10 2,176 
			 2010-11 2,370 
			 2011-12 2,406 
			 2012-13 1,757 
			 1Finished Consultant Episode (FCE) A finished consultant episode (FCE), is a continuous period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one health care provider. FCEs are counted against the year in which they end. Figures do not represent the number of different patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the same stay in hospital or in different stays in the same year. 2Primary diagnosis The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 20 (14 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and seven prior to 2002-03) diagnosis fields in the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data set and provides the main reason why the patient was admitted to hospital. ICD-10 codes used: E10—Insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus E11—Non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus E12—Malnutrition-related diabetes mellitus E13—Other specified diabetes mellitus E14—Unspecified diabetes Mellitus 3Number of episodes with a (named) main or secondary procedure The number of episodes where the procedure (or intervention) was recorded in any of the 24 (12 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and four prior to 2002-03) procedure fields in a Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) record. A record is only included once in each count, even if the procedure is recorded in more than one procedure field of the record. Note that more procedures are carried out than episodes with a main or secondary procedure. For example, patients undergoing a 'cataract operation' would tend to have at least two procedures—removal of the faulty lens and the fitting of a new one—counted in a single episode. OPCS codes used: X07—Amputation of arm X08—Amputation of hand X09—Amputation of leg X10—Amputation of foot X11—Amputation of toe X121—Re-amputation at higher level Activity included: Activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), The Health and Social Care Information Centre

Diabetes

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of geographical variations in the rate of limb amputations among people with diabetes; what steps he has taken to reduce such variations; and if he will make a statement; [R]
	(2)  if he will undertake a review of amputation rates for people with diabetes for each year since 2010. [R]

Jane Ellison: Through the mandate, we have called on NHS England to make improvements in how people with long-term conditions, such as diabetes, are supported.
	NHS England and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have responsibility for determining the overall approach to improve clinical outcomes from health care services for people with diabetes.
	It is for CCGs to ensure services meet the needs of their community, including the provision of podiatry and specialist multidisciplinary foot care teams for people with diabetes. There are various actions at a national level to help ensure that all patients with diabetes receive good quality care:
	The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Quality Standard on diabetes requires that people with diabetes who have foot ulcers, or are at risk of developing them, have regular check-ups from a team specialising in foot protection. It also requires that people are seen and treated by a specialist health care team within 24 hours if they have foot problems needing urgent medical attention.
	NICE guidelines recommend annual foot checks. This is included in the Quality and Outcomes Framework which incentivises general practitioners to perform and record a foot examination in people with diabetes.
	NHS Improving Quality is supporting a project to reduce the high mortality associated with diabetic foot disease which should have an impact on the number of patients needing amputations.
	NHS England advises that in July 2014, it plans to launch the National Diabetes Footcare Audit, which aims to establish the extent to which national guidelines on the management of diabetic foot disease are being met. It also advises that there are ongoing discussions within the Cardiovascular Strategic Clinical Networks around promoting high quality diabetic foot care across the country, but these discussions are still at an early stage.

Diabetes

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what assessment Public Health England has made of and what evidence that body has collected on the effectiveness of the NHS Health Check programme in helping to diagnose diabetes; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what plans Public Health England has to increase the number of people diagnosed with diabetes through the NHS Health Check programme;
	(3)  what representations his Department has received from experts in diabetes on the NHS Health Check programme in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: Economic modelling has demonstrated the potential for the NHS Health Check programme to prevent 4,000 people a year from developing diabetes and detect at least 20,000 cases of diabetes or kidney disease. Public Health England (PHE) recognises that empirical evidence of the programme's impact is limited and in July 2013 set out “Our Approach to the Evidence”:
	www.healthcheck.nhs.uk/commissioners_and_healthcare_professionals/national_guidance/
	As part of this approach both PHE and the Department are committed to encouraging the development of evidence. PHE is currently developing a research and evaluation strategy that will be published later this year and the Department's Research and Development division have already commissioned two independent studies.
	In the last 12 months, PHE has also established an Expert Scientific and Clinical Advisory Panel (ESCAP) involving representatives from relevant experts in the fields of academia, medicine and public health. One such member is NHS England's National Clinical Director for diabetes. The purpose of ESCAP is to act in an advisory capacity to support successful roll-out, maintenance/evaluation and the NHS Health Check programme's continued improvement based on emerging and best evidence.
	Improving the detection of diabetes has already been raised as an item at ESCAP and the panel is currently considering a proposal to update the NHS Health Check diabetes filter.

Diabetes

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps Public Health England is taking to encourage investment by local authorities in services which will help prevent the onset of diabetes.

Jane Ellison: Public Health England (PHE) recognises the important role of tackling obesity and encouraging physical activity in both the primary prevention of diabetes and as part of disease management to prevent complication. PHE has commissioned e-learning modules on physical activity and obesity to raise awareness and understanding amongst professionals of the role that these risk factors can play in both prevention and treatment.
	As obesity is a key risk factor for diabetes, PHE is also currently developing a programme of work to support local authorities, which will comprise of five pillars: systems leadership; community engagement; monitoring and the evidence base; supporting delivery; and tackling the obesogenic environment.

Diabetes

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how Academic Health Science Networks improve the care of people with diabetes. [R]

Jane Ellison: In January 2014, England became the first country in the world to implement a system of Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) universally. By working across joint objectives and tailoring work programmes to local needs, AHSNs have been set up as network organisations that can leverage and combine existing funding in health as well as local, national and international development work.
	The work programmes of AHSNs include a range of clinical and cross-cutting projects. Each AHSN is unique as they have been specifically designed to respond to regional variations in population health needs and take full advantage of the local resources at their disposal.
	On this basis, six AHSNs have diabetes currently listed as a core clinical priority area (East Midlands, Eastern, Oxford, South London, South West Peninsular and Yorkshire and Humber). In addition, there are also a range of cross-cutting programmes across the networks that are intended to benefit patient care more generally, and will therefore include patients with diabetes (for example programmes around telecare and long term conditions).
	All AHSNs are currently in the process of finalising their 2014-15 annual business plans which will outline their programmes and expected outcomes in detail. Once completed and agreed by NHS England, further information on AHSN work programmes and expected benefits for patients will be made available on their websites.

Diabetes

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to collect accurate figures on the costs of treating diabetes.

Jane Ellison: NHS England is currently working with a small number of clinical commissioning groups to get a better estimate of the expenditure on health care conditions such as diabetes. This work will inform development of the programme budgeting collection to improve the estimate of overall national health service expenditure on diabetes in future years.
	NHS England is also reviewing the ‘other miscellaneous’ expenditure in the programme budgeting data to see if this can be presented in a more useful and meaningful way for commissioners.

Diabetes

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have been diagnosed with diabetes through the NHS Health Check programme in each year of its operation. [R]

Jane Ellison: The NHS Health Check is a locally implemented programme; the number of diabetes cases diagnosed as a result of the NHS Health Check Programme is not monitored nationally. Economic modelling has demonstrated the potential for the programme to prevent 4,000 people per year from developing diabetes and detect at least 20,000 cases of diabetes or kidney disease.
	The recent NHS Health Check Implementation review recommended taking action to improve the flow of data across the system, improve evidence and the evaluation of the programme. Public Health England is currently developing a research and evaluation strategy that will be published later this year.

Diabetes

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  if NHS England will develop a template Commissioning for Quality and Innovation scheme to improve the care of people with diabetes; [R]
	(2)  if NHS England will recommend an indicator relevant to diabetes for the outcome indicator set used by clinical commissioning groups. [R]

Jane Ellison: The Clinical Commissioning Group Outcomes Indicator Set for 2014-15, which has been published by NHS England, includes a number of indicators relevant to people with diabetes and can be found at:
	www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ccg-ois-1415-at-a-glance.pdf
	NHS England does not currently have plans for a national Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) scheme for diabetes care. NHS England will consider whether there is a need for a CQUIN scheme for diabetes alongside its other possible priorities for 2015-16.

Diabetes

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many requests for the funding of insulin pump therapy have been made to individual funding request panels in each year since 2010. [R]

Jane Ellison: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued technology appraisal guidance (TA151, June 2008) which recommends continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII or 'insulin pump') therapy as a treatment option for adults and children with Type 1 diabetes mellitus, subject to certain clinical criteria. The therapy is not recommended for the treatment of people with Type 2 diabetes mellitus.
	For patients not covered by NICE'S recommendations, funding decisions should be made by the relevant national health service commissioner based on an assessment of the available evidence.
	Prior to April 2013, primary care trusts were responsible for dealing with individual funding requests and information on individual funding request decisions was not collected centrally.
	From April 2013, NHS England assumed responsibility for commissioning specialist endocrinology and diabetes services for children and young people and insulin-resistant diabetes services for adults and children, with clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) responsible for commissioning other diabetes services for adults.
	We are advised by NHS England that information on the number of individual funding requests for the funding of insulin pump therapy made to NHS England and CCGs is not collected centrally.

Diabetes

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the NHS spent on (a) Type 1 and (b) Type 2 diabetes in each of the last 10 years. [R]

Jane Ellison: Aggregate annual primary care trust (PCT) expenditure data for diabetes, calculated from programme budgeting returns for 2004-05 to 2012-13, is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  £ billion 
			 2004-05 0.67 
			 2005-06 0.83 
			 2006-07 0.90 
			 2007-08 0.99 
			 2008-09 1.11 
			 2009-10 1.27 
			 2010-11 1.46 
			 2011-12 1.55 
			 2012-13 1.54 
		
	
	The programme budgeting data return is an analysis of commissioning expenditure by health care condition and care centre based on figures provided to NHS England by PCTs and PCT successor organisations.
	Further information on how these figures were calculated can be found at:
	www.networks.nhs.uk/nhs-networks/health-investment-network
	at the link headed “2003/4 - 2012/13 Summarised Programme Budgeting Aggregate PCT Figures”.
	The figures are not available in the format requested as NHS England do not collect the spend information broken down by Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes and there are no figures available for diabetes for 2003-04.

Diabetes

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans the Care Quality Commission has to assess the quality of care delivered to people living with (a) Type 1 and (b) Type 2 diabetes. [R]

Norman Lamb: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England. All providers of regulated activities must be registered and continue to meet registration requirements setting out levels of safety and quality.
	The CQC has provided the following information.
	The CQC is currently conducting a thematic data review looking at diabetes care across the country. Thematic data reviews analyse existing data to produce intelligence at national, local or provider level, in areas where data are scarce or additional analysis will give insight.
	The reviews enhance the CQC’s understanding of a theme which helps to improve inspection planning and the CQC’s ability to promote improvement at a system level. This review will bring together information on diabetes care from a wide range of sources such as National Audits, the National Diabetes Intelligence Service, Public Health England, among others, and combine this with additional analysis conducted by the CQC to explore how outcomes for people with diabetes vary across the country.
	The work will also aim to identify variations in patterns between different population groups and whether some service providers or areas of the country are exceptions. Overall, the review will provide the CQC with an improved baseline understanding of the state of diabetes care that can then be used to target inspection activity and develop key lines of inquiry for assessing the quality of care for people with diabetes.

Diabetes

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the quality of care provided to people with diabetes (a) living independently and (b) resident in nursing or care homes. [R]

Jane Ellison: The Patient Experience of Diabetes Services (PEDS) survey will measure the health care experiences of people with diabetes in England and Wales.
	It will test an online approach to collecting information from people with diabetes about their care, using a short validated questionnaire. The first PEDS survey results will be published in June 2014.

Diabetes

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people with diabetes in each commissioning area were assessed under all nine of the annual checks recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to assist in managing their condition in each of the last three years. [R]

Jane Ellison: All patients with diabetes aged 12 years and over, including those living independently or in nursing or care homes, should receive all of the nine National Institute for Care Excellence (NICE) recommended care processes for diabetes monitoring.
	The National Diabetes Audit (NDA) includes the number of patients diagnosed with diabetes that received eight of the nine care processes as recommended by the NICE in primary and secondary care. However, participation in the audit is not mandatory.
	The 2011-12 NDA data for diabetes care (published in late 2013) showed a 60% completion rate of all the eight measureable NICE-recommended care processes, a 5% improvement on 2010.
	Information concerning the number of the eight care processes checks provided by the NDA for the years 2009-10 to 2011-12, at commissioning area level, has been placed in the Library.

Diabetes

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the number of people with undiagnosed Type 2 diabetes in each of the last five years;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the total number of people with (a) Type 1 and (b) Type 2 diabetes in each year since 1997; how many finished episodes of care relating to the treatment of diabetes there have been in each year since 1997; what estimate he has made of the total number of patients who will have (i) Type 1 and (ii) Type 2 diabetes in 2020; and if he will make a statement. [R]

Jane Ellison: An estimate of the total number of people with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes in each year since 1997 has not been made.
	However, the number of people registered with diabetes taken from the National Diabetes Audit (NDA), by type and audit year between 2009-10 and 2011-12 is provided in the following table. Data prior to 2009-10 are not currently held and participation in the NDA is not mandatory.
	
		
			 Diabetes registrations by type 
			 Audit year Type 1 diabetes Type 2 diabetes 
			 2011-12 202,412 2,088,817 
			 2010-11 194,759 1,909,495 
			 2009-10 180,978 1,711,220 
		
	
	Data regarding the number of finished episodes of care relating to the treatment of diabetes since 1997 are provided in the following table. These data are not a count of people as the same person may have had more than one finished consultant episode.
	
		
			 Number of finished consultant episodes with a primary diagnosis of diabetes by year 
			  Type 1 diabetes Type 2 diabetes 
			 1997-98 32,255 21,441 
			 1998-99 33,774 22,852 
			 1999-2000 34,792 24,108 
			 2000-01 34,828 24,692 
			 2001-12 34,030 23,625 
			 2002-03 32,924 25,125 
			 2003-04 32,011 27,788 
			 2004-05 32,411 30,229 
			 2005-06 34,234 32,080 
			 2006-07 34,950 30,983 
			 2007-08 35,462 33,444 
			 2008-09 35,625 38,066 
			 2009-10 36,422 41,702 
			 2010-11 38,287 45,668 
			 2011-12 37,263 43,334 
			 2012-13 36,336 34,253 
		
	
	An estimate of the number of people with undiagnosed Type 2 diabetes in each of the last five years has not been made. However, it is estimated that there are 850,000 people with undiagnosed Type 2 diabetes in the United Kingdom.
	An estimate of the total number of patients who will have Type 1 and 2 diabetes in 2020 has not been made.
	The National Cardiovascular Intelligence Network (NCIN), which is now part of Public Health England, publishes a Diabetes Prevalence Model that estimates both diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes prevalence for each local authority and clinical commissioning group. More information is available on the NCIN's website:
	www.yhpho.org.uk/resource/view.aspx?RID=154049

Diabetes

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children aged (a) under 10 years and (b) 10 years and over were admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of diabetes in each year since 1997-98.

Jane Ellison: The following table gives the number of finished admission episodes for children aged under 10 years and 10-18 years in England regarding all forms of diabetes for the years 1997-98 to 2012-13.
	
		
			 Activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector 
			  Age 0-9 Age 10-18 
			 1997-98 1,853 3,997 
			 1998-99 2,032 4,281 
			 1999-2000 2,196 4,754 
			 2000-01 2,104 4,911 
			 2001-02 2,140 5,156 
			 2002-03 2,225 5,480 
			 2003-04 2,241 5,795 
			 2004-05 2,296 5,981 
			 2005-06 2,302 6,361 
			 2006-07 2,264 6,542 
			 2007-08 2,093 6,782 
			 2008-09 2,122 6,702 
			 2009-10 2,184 6,949 
			 2010-11 2,345 6,816 
			 2011-12 2,338 6,586 
			 2012-13 2,241 6,546 
			 Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre

Diabetes

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the (a) level of uptake and (b) proportion of successful completions of the Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating structured education programme among NHS and social care staff in each year since 2010. [R]

Jane Ellison: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Quality Standard for diabetes, published in July 2011, sets out that people with diabetes should receive a structured educational programme.
	There are a number of different structured education courses available and it is up to individual clinicians to assess whether Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating (DAFNE) is suitable for the patient on a case-by-case basis.
	No estimate has been made of the level of uptake or the proportion of successful completions of the DAFNE structured education programme among national health service and social care staff.

Diabetes: Prisoners

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he made of the proportion of prisoners with (a) Type 1 and (b) Type 2 diabetes.

Norman Lamb: The information requested is not held centrally.
	However, all health services in prison have a health information system that supports patient care.
	A recent survey on a single day of such data, in one NHS England region showed that of a population of 4,460 prisoners, 26 (0.58% of regional prison population) had Type 1 diabetes mellitus and 138 (3.09%) had Type 2 diabetes. This is not necessarily representative of the whole prison estate.

Diseases

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the next meeting of NHS England's Prescribed Specialised Services Advisory Group will take place; and whether consideration of applications for highly specialised services for rare diseases like Alpha One-Antitrypsin Deficiency will be on the agenda for that meeting.

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) undertaken on the services available in the NHS for patients with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency.

Norman Lamb: The commissioning of services for people with alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency is a matter for individual clinical commissioning groups. The Department has made no assessment of these services locally.
	The Prescribed Specialised Services Advisory Group (PSSAG) is a Department of Health expert committee which was set up to provide regular advice to Ministers on the services that are specialised and should be prescribed in regulations for national commissioning by the NHS Commissioning Board (NHS England).
	We understand the Alpha 1 Alliance is working with NHS England and the Specialised Respiratory Clinical Reference Group to develop a proposal on alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency for the next PSSAG meeting, which will be held on 16 May.

Drugs: Counterfeit Manufacturing

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to combat the sale of fake drugs in the UK.

Norman Lamb: Counterfeit and falsified medicines pose tangible risks to the health of the United Kingdom public and Her Majesty's Government take the issue extremely seriously.
	In the UK, counterfeit and falsified medicines rarely reach patients through the regulated supply chain and are more commonly available to consumers via unregulated websites. Although no fatalities have been attributed to counterfeit medicine in the UK, the protection of patients is paramount. In response, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), an Executive Agency of the Department of Health with responsibility for regulation of medicines for human use and medical devices, has developed and implemented a comprehensive Anti-Counterfeiting Strategy to combat the threat posed by the infiltration of counterfeit and falsified medicines and devices onto the UK market.
	A number of public awareness campaigns have been delivered, both by the MHRA and also by the MHRA in conjunction with other stakeholders such as the General Pharmaceutical Council, patient groups and the pharmaceutical industry.
	The MHRA monitors the internet for websites operating within the UK supplying medicines illegally, makes test purchases from these sites and, as a result, has successfully prosecuted a number of individuals. All referrals involving suspected counterfeit and falsified medicines are investigated thoroughly and all necessary action is taken to protect public health. Enforcement activity is closely co-ordinated with other enforcement authorities around the world and the MHRA regularly engages in international initiatives to tackle this issue.
	The MHRA also chairs an anti-counterfeit stakeholders group, with representatives from, among others, UK police forces, regulators and industry, where intelligence concerning counterfeit and falsified medicines is regularly reviewed and assessed.
	New requirements for wholesalers and distributors of medicines introduced by the Falsified Medicines Directive were implemented in the UK in August 2013.

Drugs: Rehabilitation

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of regional discrepancies in the provision of drug intervention programmes to provide continuity of drug treatment programmes for those leaving prison.

Jane Ellison: As part of a new approach to devolving responsibility and delivery to local partners, the Home Office ended drug intervention programmes (DIP) as a centrally managed, nationally run programme on 31 March 2013. Home Office funding for DIP was devolved to Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) via their locally held Community Safety budgets.
	DIP funding that was previously routed to local authorities through the Pooled Treatment Budget was included in the un-ringfenced Public Health Grant available from 1 April 2013. From this date decisions relating to the continuation of DIP services have been subject to local determination by both PCCs and local authority based public health commissioners.
	This will inevitably lead to local variations in the shape of drug intervention programmes as commissioners develop services that work for local circumstances. Public Health England is encouraging local authorities to link with PCCs and their community safety partners, and map out pathways and provision for offenders, both in the community and on release from prison.

Electronic Cigarettes

David Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the UK of the planned EU ban on e-cigarettes with over 20mg/ml of nicotine.

Jane Ellison: The revised European Union tobacco products directive does not ban electronic cigarettes with a strength greater than 20 mg/ml. The directive subjects electronic cigarettes to consumer products legislation, unless they fall under the definition of a medicinal product. Under the directive, electronic cigarettes defined as consumer products will be subject to a maximum strength of 20 mg/ml. Electronic cigarettes regulated under medicines legislation will not be subject to a maximum strength, and so could be available at strengths greater than 20 mg/ml.

Food

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent discussions he has had with food manufacturers on achieving reductions in the salt, sugar and carbohydrate content of their products.

Jane Ellison: Through the Public Health Responsibility Deal, the Department works with the food and drink industry to encourage them, amongst other things, to reduce salt and calories, including sugar, in the food they produce and retail.
	Details of all ministerial meetings with external parties are published quarterly in arrears on the Department's website. The latest publication which covers meetings up until September can be found on the Department's website:
	www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-external-meetings-2012-to-2013?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
	In addition, the Secretary of State for Health, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), met with representatives of retailers on 7 October 2013 and with representatives of food manufacturers on 18 November 2013 to discuss what more they could do to help reduce obesity and improve people's diet through the Responsibility Deal.

Food: Safety

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make an assessment of the effect of reductions in the budget of Trading Standards on its monitoring of food safety in the UK.

Jane Ellison: The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has carried out a review of local authority delivery of food safety controls. High level findings of this review were discussed by the FSA Board in March 2013. The evidence from this review indicated that despite significant pressures on budgets, local authorities were prioritising and resourcing food safety official controls.
	Local authority returns to the FSA on their food enforcement activity, confirms that local authorities are increasingly using a risk based approach to target their resources. For food standards enforcement there has been an increased emphasis on co-ordinating resources through regional and national sampling programmes, and a greater use of intelligence to ensure better targeting. The FSA and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are supporting this approach and provide additional funding for complex investigations, training and prioritised sampling programmes.
	Consumer protection is a key priority for the FSA and local authorities. While it is for local authorities to decide on their priorities, the FSA monitors and audits local authority services to ensure appropriate resources are put in place for food safety controls and consumer protection, and intervenes with authorities where this does not appear to be the case.

Health: Screening

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if Public Health England will develop a template national service specification for the delivery of NHS health check services.

Jane Ellison: As the local delivery lead for the NHS Health Check programme, local authorities are best placed to determine the needs of their local population and, in turn, the best way of commissioning the programme in order to meet local need. A 'one size fits all' service specification is unlikely to be helpful in supporting them in this role.
	Public Health England (PHE) has sought to disseminate best commissioning practice by publishing service specifications used by local authorities successfully commissioning the programme. These examples can be accessed and tailored for use by other NHS Health Check commissioners. PHE has also disseminated learning on commissioning arrangements at the recent NHS Health Check conference, which can found at:
	www.healthcheck.nhs.uk/commissioners_and_healthcare_professionals/learning_network/presentations_and_resources/nhs_health_check_conference_feb_27th_2014/

Heart Diseases

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of how many people (a) used atrial fibrillation and (b) died as a result of not having access to atrial fibrillation in each of the last five years.

Jane Ellison: This information is not collected centrally.
	Atrial fibrillation is the most common type of sustained heart rhythm disturbance. It occurs as a result of rapid, disorganised, electrical activity within the heart’s upper chambers, the atria, resulting in an irregular heart rhythm. It is a major predisposing factor for stroke, accounting for approximately 14%1 of all strokes.
	The Cardiovascular Disease Outcomes Strategy, published in March 2013, estimates that around 600,000 people in England have atrial fibrillation, although we know that not all cases of atrial fibrillation are diagnosed.
	1 Cardiovascular Disease Outcomes Strategy (March 2013) page 65. Estimate from “Commissioning for Stroke Prevention in Primary Care: The Role of Atrial Fibrillation (2009)” NHS Improvement
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/improving-cardiovascular-disease-outcomes-strategy

Heart Diseases

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps Public Health England has taken to ensure that information captured through the National Cardiovascular Intelligence Network is used to improve delivery of NHS services.

Jane Ellison: Since its formal launch at a stakeholder engagement event in December 2013, early National Cardiovascular Intelligence Network (NCVIN) deliverables include a web portal:
	www.ncvin.org.uk
	a series of factsheets with information and data about cardiovascular risk factors and disease areas and PDF profiles presenting a baseline position at Strategic Clinical Groups (SCNs); clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and local authorities (LAs) geographies.
	A key strategic priority of NCVIN will be to bring together the rich clinical data currently collected through a range of national clinical audit programmes which sit in organisations including the Royal College of Physicians, the Renal Registry, Health and Social Care Information Centre and National Institute for Cardiovascular Outcomes Research. These organisations are significant partners in the NCVIN.
	NCVIN will invest in supporting health professionals such as CCGs, LAs and clinicians in ensuring that this knowledge and evidence translates into quality improvement. NCVIN has invested in a programme of masterclasses developed and delivered with the NHS England SCNs and national audit programme partners. They will provide practical interpretation and increased understanding of the knowledge and evidence available across the cardiovascular family of diseases. The masterclasses will be a series of 12 workshops, one in each SCN region, to explore the breadth of cardiovascular information through a combination of presentation and practical exercises.
	This will provide front line members of staff the opportunity to explore and increase their understanding of cardiovascular data and information and think about how they can apply it in everyday planning and practice.

Hospital Beds

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to ensure that home help, meals-on-wheels and other social security benefits which are cancelled when individuals are taken into hospital in an emergency are re-instituted immediately when the patient is ready for discharge.

Norman Lamb: For people who are in receipt of local authority funded social care at the time they are admitted to hospital and will require the same level of provision on discharge, the relevant national health service organisation is required to provide the local authority in advance with a copy of the discharge notice so that an effective transfer of care can take place. Once in receipt of the Discharge Notice the local authority must ensure that the services needed are re-instituted to facilitate a safe transfer of care.
	Where, during their hospital stay, the NHS organisation considers that the person will need a different package of care on discharge compared to what they were receiving when admitted, the NHS organisation is required to issue an Assessment Notice to the local authority so that they can consider and put in place, in discussion with the person, what care and support will be needed on discharge. The authority is required to undertake this assessment within two days of receiving the notice from the NHS.
	Issues in relation to welfare benefits are a matter for the Department for Work and Pensions.

Hospitals: WiFi

Nicola Blackwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what plans his Department has to increase and improve the availability of (a) free and (b) chargeable WiFi access for patients within NHS Hospitals;
	(2)  how many NHS Hospitals in England provided (a) free and (b) chargeable wireless internet access for patients at the most recent date for which figures are available.

Daniel Poulter: The availability of free and chargeable WiFi access for patients is a matter for local decision making by national health service organisations. There is no centrally collected information on the number of NHS hospitals in England provided with free and chargeable wireless internet access for patients.

Lung Diseases: Transplant Surgery

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his policy is on whether people who smoke should be eligible to receive lung transplants.

Jane Ellison: People who smoke are not accepted onto the transplant waiting list for either heart or lung transplants. Nor if they continue to smoke would they be offered formal assessment—the precursor to listing. They would, however, be offered every support to stop smoking before being seen at the transplant centre.
	Listing patients for transplant is a complex process, and the final decision rests with a multidisciplinary team including transplant surgeons and physicians, psychiatrists and support counsellors where necessary.

Medical Records: Databases

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  whether Commercial Re-use Licences for Hospital Episode Statistics will be revoked; and whether all data received by the licensees and all of their customers will be deleted;
	(2)  how the process for the revocation of Commercial Re-use Licences for Hospital Episode Statistics will be (a) undertaken and (b) audited to provide reassurance to patients that their confidential medical information is no longer being commercially exploited.

Daniel Poulter: holding answer 24 March 2014
	The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) has confirmed that a very limited number of re-use agreements do remain in place, for specific organisations in relation to approved purposes. The purpose of each application is carefully considered by HSCIC before it is agreed, including its benefit to the health and care system.
	Following concerns expressed by the Health Select Committee in its meeting of February 25, Sir Nick Partridge, a newly-appointed Non-Executive Director on the HSCIC Board, has agreed to conduct an audit of all the data releases made by the predecessor organisation, the NHS Information Centre, and report on this to the HSCIC Board by the end of April. Furthermore, a report detailing all data released by the HSCIC from April 2013, (including the legal basis under which data was released and the purpose to which the data are being put), will be published by HSCIC on April 2. This report will be updated quarterly.
	Additionally, the HSCIC is writing to all recipients of HSCIC data releases to remind them of their responsibilities under their HSCIC data sharing agreements and of HSCIC's right to audit their use of data and, where appropriate, revoke licence agreements. Proposed amendments to the Care Bill would ensure that organisations which misuse data provided under licence would not in future be able to receive HSCIC data releases.

Members: Correspondence

David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will arrange for a reply to be sent to the Member for Walsall North to the letter that he wrote to the chief executive, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust on 18 February 2014 concerning the father of a constituent.

Jane Ellison: This is a matter for the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust.

Nutrition

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent discussions he has had with the medical profession on steps to ensure that middle-aged people follow a healthy diet to reduce the incidence of dementia.

Norman Lamb: The Secretary of State for Health, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), has not had discussions with the medical profession, however Public Health England has a comprehensive work programme which addresses healthy diet, including in relation to dementia risk.

Obesity: Surgery

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many bariatric procedures have been performed in hospitals in each clinical commissioning group area (a) overall and (b) per 100,000 inhabitants in each of the last five years.

Jane Ellison: The Health and Social Care Information Centre has provided the number of finished consultant episodes and the rate per 100,000 of the population with a primary diagnosis of obesity and a procedure code of bariatric surgery broken down by primary care trust of residence. These data predate the formation of clinical commissioning groups.
	This information has been placed in the Library.

Palliative Care

Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the answer of 30 October 2012, Official Report, column 149W, on palliative care, whether the planned review of a national choice offer for people who want to die at home began in 2013; what the scope of the review and its timetable for publication is; and what funding has been allocated for the review.

Norman Lamb: We are committed to undertaking a review of choice in end of life care which we aim to complete in 2014. The Department, together with the National Council for Palliative Care, recently held a workshop involving a full range of experts and stakeholders on what a review into a choice offer should look like. The formal arrangements for the proposed review, including its terms of reference, timetable and composition are currently being developed and will be made available shortly.

Parkinson's Disease

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure that social care providers are aware of the medication needs of people with Parkinson's.

Norman Lamb: The Department does not issue guidance to social care providers to make them aware of the medication needs of people with specific conditions, including Parkinson's.
	Regulation 13 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010, against which the Care Quality Commission registers and regulates all providers of health and adult social care services in England, requires providers to:
	“protect service users against the risks associated with the unsafe use and management of medicines, by means of the making of appropriate arrangements for the obtaining, recording, handling, using, safe keeping, dispensing, safe administration and disposal of medicines used for the purposes of the regulated activity”.
	Social care providers may only assist service users to take medicines under the direction of or in accordance with the instructions of prescribers.
	In 2006, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence issued a clinical guideline, ‘Parkinson's disease. Diagnosis and management in primary and secondary care’ (CG35). It includes guidance on potential issues associated with sudden withdrawal of anti-parkinsonian medicines. This guideline is in the process of being updated.

Perinatal Mortality

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the performance of the Perinatal Institute’s Growth Assessment Protocol programme in the three pilot regions in reducing the number of stillbirths; if he will make this policy to introduce a wider roll-out of this scheme across the whole NHS; and if he will make a statement.

Daniel Poulter: NHS England is aware of the Growth Assessment Protocol (GAP) programme and the encouraging results achieved in the three regions where uptake of the programme is most prevalent. NHS England strategic clinical networks have reduction of stillbirths as one of their key priorities. Network leads invited the GAP programme team to discuss the work, and following this meeting, NHS England is encouraging the uptake of the programme across the national health service in England.

Pregnancy: Vitamins

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment he has made of the potential benefits of increasing access to Healthy Start vitamins available to pregnant women (a) from all chemists and (b) without not means-testing.

Daniel Poulter: The Department recognises that permitting the sale of Healthy Start vitamins through community pharmacies could be beneficial and is currently exploring the options for enabling this to happen. We hope to have arrangements in place for supplying the vitamins to community pharmacies later this year.
	With regards to the removal of means-testing access to the vitamins, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is currently developing a guideline on the implementation of existing guidance on the prevention of vitamin D deficiency. As part of the development of the guideline, activities are being considered to (i) increase the provision of vitamin D supplements in a range of settings for all at risk groups and (ii) increase the uptake of Healthy Start supplements for those eligible. While this will address all population groups previously identified as at risk, it includes a particular focus on the groups covered by Healthy Start (pregnant and breastfeeding women and children under age four). The draft guideline will be out for consultation in May 2014 and the final guidance will be published in November 2014.
	During the development of the guideline, the chief medical officer (CMO) recommended in her annual report 2013, “Prevention pays—our children deserve better”, that NICE should
	“examine the cost-effectiveness of moving the Healthy Start vitamin programme from a targeted to a universal offering”.
	Due to the difficulties in assessing the cost-effectiveness of Healthy Start per se as part of the development of the current guideline, NICE has agreed to undertake the CMO’s recommendation as a separate, stand-alone piece of work. The proposed work will focus on the cost-effectiveness of moving the Healthy Start vitamin supplements (for pregnant and breastfeeding women and children under age four) from a targeted to a universal offering. The work is currently being scoped and the report will be published in 2015.

Salt

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what steps he is taking to encourage people to reduce their salt intake;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the number of people who have died as a result of consuming too much salt in their diet in each of the last five years.

Jane Ellison: Two sets of new and challenging targets for levels of salt in a wide range of foods that are commonly consumed both in and out of the home were issued through the Public Health Responsibility Deal earlier this month. Work is now underway to engage with businesses to adopt and work towards these targets.
	The Change4Life programme gives information to families and others on the benefits of reducing salt intakes and easy ways to do this through advertising, published materials and its website. Consumers are also able to easily identify levels of salt in foods through the front of pack labelling scheme which was launched last June. Together these actions will enable people to develop healthy eating habits including reducing their salt intakes.
	It is not possible to estimate the number of individual people who have died as a result of consuming too much salt. However, through actions to date, salt intakes in the United Kingdom have already reduced by 15%—from 9.5 grams in 2001 to 8.1 grams in 2011. For each 1 gram reduction in population average salt intakes achieved, around 4,100 premature deaths are prevented in the population and the national health service saves £288 million every year.

Strokes

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people aged (a) under 21 and (b) 21 to 30 years old had a stroke in each of the last five years; and how many such people died as a result of that stroke.

Jane Ellison: The following table shows data on the number of finished admission episodes with a primary diagnosis of stroke and the number of finished admissions episodes ending in the death of the patient in hospital by age groups 0 to 20 years old and 21 to 30 years old in each of the last five years.
	
		
			 Count of finished admission episodes (FAEs)1 with a primary diagnosis2 of stroke3 and the number of finished admissions episodes ending in the death of the patient4 in hospital, by the age groups (a) 0 to 20 and (b) 21 to 30, for the year 2008-09 to 2012-135, activity in English NHS hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector 
			  FAEs FAEs resulting in death 
			  0 to 20 21 to 30 0 to 20 21 to 30 
			 2008-09 546 629 32 43 
			 2009-10 561 638 18 29 
			 2010-11 576 652 29 39 
			 2011-12 557 680 18 35 
			 2012-13 546 673 20 23 
			 1Finished admission episodes A finished admission episode (FAE) is the first period of in-patient care under one consultant within one health care provider. FAEs are counted against the year or month in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of in-patients, as a person may have more than one admission within the period. 2Primary diagnosis The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 20 (14 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and seven prior to 2002-03) diagnosis fields in the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data set and provides the main reason why the patient was admitted to hospital. 3Clinical codes The following ICD-10 codes were used to define ‘stroke’: I60. - Subarachnoid haemorrhage I61.- Intracerebral haemorrhage I62.- Other nontraumatic intracranial haemorrhage I63.- Cerebral infarction I64.X Stroke, not specified as haemorrhage or infarction. 4Deaths HES data cannot be used to determine the cause of death of a patient while in hospital. Deaths may be analysed by the main diagnosis for which the patient was being treated but this may not be the underlying cause of death. For example, a patient admitted for a hernia operation (with a primary diagnosis of hernia) may die from an unrelated heart attack. The Office for National Statistics collects information on the cause of death, wherever it occurs, based on the death certificate and should be the source of data for analyses on cause of death. 5Assessing growth through time (out-patients) HES figures are available from 2003-04 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice. For example, changes in activity may be due to changes in the provision of care. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre.

EDUCATION

Building Schools for the Future Programme

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will take steps to ensure that the contracts for the Building Schools for the Future programme include provisions to ensure prompt payment to small and medium-sized businesses.

David Laws: The Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme is coming to a close, with the final schemes moving in to construction. The Government's main programme to address the condition needs of the school estate is the Priority Schools Building Programme (PSBP) and the majority of work will be procured using the Education Funding Agency's (EFA) Contractors' Framework, which commenced in November 2013.
	All PSBP procurements carried out by the EFA through this Framework will require the use of project bank accounts (PBAs)
	PBAs differ from traditional construction industry payment arrangements whereby the procuring party under the building contract makes payment to the main contractor, who in turn makes payment down his supply chain. This can lead to delay and cash-flow problems for small and medium-sized businesses, who typically make up a significant proportion of the supply chain.
	Instead, the procuring party will make payment into a trust account established specifically for the project. The majority of members of the supply chain are nominated as beneficiaries of that trust account, and the building contract requires that payment must be made from the PBA to the supply chain as soon as possible after the PBA is placed in funds, typically within three to four working days (although varying slightly depending on the specific banking arrangements).
	There are a small number of PSBP projects being procured through a private finance route. For these projects, the project agreement does not deal with construction payments as no payment is made until the project is operational. Before that, payments for construction works are made by the single-purpose company (SPC) set up to carry out the project, to its subcontractors, and then down the contractual chain. The SPC's solvency is, in its contracts with first-tier subcontractors, protected by industry-standard provisions with which PBAs are not compatible. We are considering whether more can be done to encourage prompt payment further down the contractual chain.

Departmental Expenditure Limits

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what his Department's planned capital departmental expenditure limit will be in (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16.

Elizabeth Truss: The Department for Education's latest published planned capital departmental expenditure limit is set out in the recently published 2013-14 'Supplementary Estimate Memorandum' (Annex D), which can be accessed via the following link.
	http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/Education/DFE%20201314%20Supp%20 Estimate%20Memorandum%20FINAL.pdf
	A copy has been placed in the House Library.
	The information will be updated when the Main 2014-15 Estimate is published in due course.

Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what requests for information relating to (a) abortion and (b) sex and relationships education were made to his Department under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in each year since 2011; whether each such request was (i) agreed to and (ii) refused; if he will place in the Library a copy of the information provided in response to each request; and if he will make a statement.

Elizabeth Truss: A search of the Department for Education's central database for all correspondence, including Freedom of Information (FOI) requests using 'abortion' and 'sex and relationship' as search terms, found five FOI requests tabled in the period since 2011. In four cases no information was held. A copy of one response has been placed in the House Library.
	A more detailed search could be undertaken only at disproportionate cost.

Teachers: Training

Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many graduates from each Russell Group university applied to the Teach First programme in each year since 2010.

David Laws: The following table, supplied to the Department for Education by Teach First, sets out how many applications were received for the Teach First initial teacher training programme for each cohort since 2010 from applicants holding first degrees from Russell Group universities.
	
		
			 Applications to Teach First 
			 First degree university 2010 2011 2012 2013 
			 University of Birmingham 148 164 234 232 
			 University of Bristol 137 145 184 159 
			 University of Cambridge 222 241 272 236 
			 Cardiff University 65 86 107 141 
			 Durham University 185 180 263 260 
			 The University of Edinburgh 79 93 177 140 
			 University of Exeter 58 74 109 124 
			 University of Glasgow 34 22 64 75 
			 Imperial College London 106 90 68 70 
		
	
	
		
			 King’s College London 68 80 101 136 
			 University of Leeds 172 267 318 358 
			 The University of Liverpool 85 123 147 147 
			 London School of Economics (LSE) 63 62 73 61 
			 The University of Manchester 216 248 353 318 
			 Newcastle University 105 90 135 153 
			 The University of Nottingham 194 189 244 262 
			 The University of Oxford 226 282 313 282 
			 Queen Mary, University of London 80 94 123 143 
			 Queen’s University Belfast 17 17 61 65 
			 The University of Sheffield 116 124 204 226 
			 University of Southampton 42 55 98 121 
			 University College London 118 131 163 232 
			 The University of Warwick 122 181 247 256 
			 The University of York 116 135 210 190 
			 Total applications from Russell Group universities 2,774 3,173 4,268 4,387

Teachers: Veterans

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of service leavers (a) applied to and (b) were accepted on initial teacher training in (i) 2008-09, (ii) 2009-10, (iii) 2010-11, (iv) 2011-12, (v) 2012-13 and (vi) the current academic year to date.

David Laws: In the 24 month period between March 2011 and April 2013, 322 service leavers applied to postgraduate initial teacher training (ITT). 132 of these were successful. This is an average of six successful applicants per month.
	In the current academic year we have introduced the new Troops to Teachers undergraduate route. This is not comparable to previous years as it is a dedicated undergraduate route which is only for service leavers.
	982 service leavers applied to Cohort 1, and the application process ran for 4 months. 41 service leavers joined the programme in January 2014. This is an average of 10 successful applicants per month. We expect a higher acceptance rate for Cohort 2 as we develop this new programme.

Truancy

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent research has been commissioned into truancy in schools; and if he will make a statement.

Elizabeth Truss: From the 2011/12 absence data, we know that pupils who have regular attendance at school are four times more likely to achieve five or more A*-C grades at GCSE, including English and maths, than those pupils who are persistently absent. Persistent absence has fallen by 15% under this Government, from 392,305 pupils missing 15% of school time in 2010/11 to 333,850 in 2011/12. The former Government Adviser on behaviour, Charlie Taylor, published his report on improving school attendance in April 2012. It can be found at:
	http://tinyurl.com/crt8nok

University Technical Colleges

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to visit university technical colleges.

Elizabeth Truss: The Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), visited JCB Academy shortly before that university technical college (UTC) opened. Lord Nash has visited both Hackney and Aston UTCs since his appointment as an Education Minister. The Minister for Skills and Enterprise, my hon. Friend the Member for West Suffolk (Matthew Hancock), recently visited South Devon UTC, which has now been approved for pre-opening.
	This Government has already opened 17 UTCs, and approved a further 33 for pre-opening. These UTCs are introducing innovative ways of combining academic subjects with high quality technical education giving young people the skills and experience that industry wants.
	The Secretary of State regularly visits all types of schools and plans to visit a UTC in due course.

Young People: Training

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Education with reference to the Government announcement entitled New opportunities for young people on 27 February 2014, by what date he expects a new website providing information on training and apprenticeship opportunities for young people to be operational.

Matthew Hancock: The Government’s aim is to ensure that in every local area, young people aged 16 have access to an online portal that gives them access to a range of education and training opportunities.
	Over the coming weeks, we will be discussing with local authorities and others interested in this area how this portal can most effectively be delivered and will make further announcements in due course.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Asylum: Syria

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) children and (b) adults have been granted asylum in the UK under the Vulnerable Person Relocation Scheme from Syria.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 24 March 2014
	The first Syrians relocated under the Vulnerable Persons Relocation (VPR) scheme arrived into the UK on 25 March 2014. The scheme prioritises women and children at risk or in need of medical care, and survivors of torture and violence; given the particular vulnerability of these individuals, it has been essential to work with partners including UNHCR and local authorities to ensure that the support, services and accommodation they need are in place before they arrive in the UK. We expect the scheme to support several hundred people over the next three years.

Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 13 March 2014, Official Report, column 325W, on the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, how many NCA employees who work in Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command have arrest powers.

Damian Green: holding answer 20 March 2014
	I refer the hon. Member to my reply of 13 March 2014, Official Report, column 326W.
	The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Command is fully integrated within the National Crime Agency (NCA). As part of the NCA, the CEOP Command is able to draw on the whole of the NCA's resources. The NCA works as a flexible organisation and as such there will be NCA officers whose work covers a range of serious and organised crime threats.
	In total the NCA has 1,900 officers who currently hold arrest powers who can be called upon to tackle child exploitation. This number is for NCA permanent officers and does not include secondees or those attached to the NCA.

Crime: Nature Conservation

Richard Benyon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department with reference to the Declaration of the London Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade, what consideration her Department has given to ensuring that wildlife crime offences are made recordable offences.

Norman Baker: Offences relating to the illegal purchase and sale of the world's most highly endangered species are already included in the Home Office Counting Rules for police recorded crime, with the specific crime recording code of 99/3. This includes the illegal trade in iconic species such as elephants, rhinoceroses and tigers, which provided the focus to the London Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade.

Crime: Nature Conservation

Angela Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment her Department has made of the outcome of the recent Illegal Wildlife Trade conference and the resulting London Declaration; and what steps she plans to take to ensure that animal welfare is a key element of her Department's response to that declaration.

Norman Baker: The Home Office recognises that the illegal wildlife trade is not only a serious threat to our environment, but is also a transnational criminal industry worth billions of pounds every year, and one which drives corruption and insecurity and undermines efforts to cut poverty and develop sustainable economic opportunities.
	I was therefore pleased that world leaders from over 40 nations, including key states such as Botswana, Chad, China, Gabon, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Tanzania, and Vietnam, alongside the United States and Russia, gathered in London on 13 February 2014 and made a political commitment to take actions to eradicate the demand for illegal wildlife products, strengthen law enforcement, ensure effective legal frameworks, and to reduce the incentive for communities in source countries to get involved in the trade by supporting the development of alternative, sustainable livelihoods. I co-chaired part of the proceedings to underline the Home Office's commitment to this issue.
	The Home Office will continue to work with other Departments to ensure that the Government deliver on the UK Commitment to Action on the Illegal Wildlife Trade.

Domestic Violence

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many incidents of domestic violence were recorded in each local authority area in each of the last five years.

Norman Baker: The Home Office does not hold data on the number of domestic violence and abuse incidents at the local authority level.

Drugs: Misuse

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions she has had with her international counterparts on the control of legal highs; and if she will make a statement.

Norman Baker: My officials and I have been having ongoing discussions with a number of international partners regarding new psychoactive substances to help inform the review, which I announced to Parliament on 12 December 2013, and which is considering how the UK's domestic response can be strengthened. This has included discussions during the UK presidency of the G8, in the EU on the Commission's latest proposals for controlling new psychoactive substances at EU-level and more recently, at the Commission for Narcotic Drugs 57th Session in Vienna.

Entry Clearances: Overseas Students

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what criteria the UK Visa and Immigration Service uses to withdraw a licence from a Tier 4 sponsor; and how proper notice is given to students with Tier 4 visas;
	(2)  what help or advice her Department gives to students with Tier 4 visas whose sponsor loses their licence in relation to (a) mitigating loss of tuition paid and (b) finding another course.

James Brokenshire: A Tier 4 licence may be revoked if we find that a sponsor has not been complying with any, or all, of its sponsorship obligations and responsibilities.
	We will support the students who were not actively involved in the circumstances which led to the licence being revoked, by giving them up to 60 days to find a new course and sponsor.
	We will write to the above students at the contact address the student provided on their visa application. This will advise them that their permission to study in the UK has been curtailed.
	We are not able to offer students direct assistance on the issue of tuition fees. This is a commercial arrangement between the student and the college and is the subject of the refund policy of the college.
	Full detailed reasons why a licence may be revoked and how revocation affects sponsored students are set out in the Tier 4 Sponsor Guidance which can be found here:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/270492/sponsor-guidancet4.pdf

Human Trafficking

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she plans to appoint an anti-slavery commissioner; and whether such an appointment will be a full-time post.

Karen Bradley: An announcement will be made on the anti-slavery commissioner after the Modern Slavery Bill as been introduced to Parliament.

Immigration Controls

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when someone, held at a Border Force checkpoint, is officially considered a detainee.

James Brokenshire: For immigration purposes, a person is considered detained on service of an IS81 form, pending examination or further examination for a decision on a grant, refusal or cancellation of leave.

Immigration Controls

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  under what circumstances all members of a group of travellers are detained following the retention of one member of the group at a Border Force checkpoint;
	(2)  what guidance her Department issues on dealing with people who have had one member of their group detained at a Border Force checkpoint.

James Brokenshire: All members of a group of adult travellers are assessed individually on arrival to ensure that they qualify for admission in line with immigration legislation. If one member of the group is detained for further enquiries but the rest of the group are granted admission then they are free to proceed without the detained person if they so wish.

National Wildlife Crime Unit

Richard Benyon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what strategic priorities her Department has given to the National Wildlife Crime Unit in each of the last five years; and on what key areas her Department has instructed that unit to focus until 2016.

Norman Baker: The Home Office recognises the importance of wildlife crime, and is providing specific funding of £136,000 for the National Wildlife Crime Unit in each of the next two financial years.
	The Home Office does not set specific priorities for the National Wildlife Crime Unit, other than to tackle wildlife crime. The Unit produces a tactical assessment of wildlife crime across the UK every six months. This assessment is then considered by the UK Tasking and Co-ordinating Group, which includes the Home Office and DEFRA.

Organised Crime

Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the (a) average life span and (b) health outcomes of members of gangs.

Norman Baker: holding answer 24 March 2014
	We know that young people, including gang members, who are exposed to violence have poorer health outcomes. This is set out in a practical guide we recently produced with the NHS Confederation on reducing violence, and in the Department of Health report 'Protecting people, promoting health'.
	To address these issues, the Ending Gang and Youth Violence annual report 2013 includes 'youth violence and health' as a key priority.

Seized Articles

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what amount of (a) tobacco and cigar products, (b) Class A and B drugs and (c) alcohol products were recovered by the Border Agency or its predecessor (i) in total value and (ii) from all ports and airports in the UK in each of the last three years.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 17 March 2014
	Statistics on drugs, alcohol and tobacco seized at the border are published by the Home Office on a quarterly basis and can be found at the following links. We do not hold data on the total value of these seizures.
	Tax revenue protected by the detention of undeclared goods—publications:
	http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tax-revenue-from-undeclared-goods
	Drug seizures by Border Force in the UK, 2011 to 2013—publications:
	http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/drug-seizures-made-by-border-force-in-the-uk
	Seizures of drugs in England and Wales, 2010 to 2011—publications:
	http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/seizures-of-drugs-in-england-and-wales-2010-to-2011
	Please note the 2010 to 2011 seizure of drugs statistics are for England and Wales only.

Trade Union Officials

Alun Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what funding her Department provided for staff to carry out trade union activities in each of the last three years; and how many days staff spent on those activities in those years.

Karen Bradley: holding answer 20 March 2014
	The Department did not provide specific funding for staff to carry out trade union activities in 2011, 2012 or 2013.
	Information on the amount of paid time spent on trade union activities by staff who are union representatives has only been centrally recorded since November 2012. Between November 2012 and September 2013 our central records show that 1,345 paid days were spent by union representatives on such activities. These central records are based on returns submitted by union representatives to account for the time they have spent on their union roles. Information on the amount of paid time spent on trade union activities prior to November 2012 could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	Since October 2013 the Department has not permitted members of staff elected as union representatives to be granted paid facility time for any trade union activities and in future will only grant paid facility time for such activities in exceptional circumstances and with approval from the Secretary of State. In line with our legal obligations members of staff elected as union representatives are able to request time away from their work to undertake trade union activities but any time off granted for this purpose will be unpaid.

Written Question: Government Responses

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she intends to answer Named Day written question 185520 tabled on 28 January 2014 for answer on 3 February 2014; and what the reasons are for the delay in answering this question.

James Brokenshire: I replied to the hon. Member on 13 March 2014, Official Report, column 533W.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Conditions of Employment

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on what date his Department's statutory consultation on the transfer of staff to the Single Fraud Investigation Service began; when that consultation is due to end; and which trades unions are being consulted.

Michael Penning: DWP's legal advice states that Transfer of Undertaking (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) do not apply. As TUPE does not apply, there is no statutory consultation duty arising out of the TUPE provisions.
	DWP wants to offer TUPE protections to local authority staff transferring to DWP and will affect the staff transfer by way of Section 38 of the Employment Relations Act 1999 (s38 ERA 1999). There is no statutory consultation requirement under s38 ERA 1999.
	In the absence of any statutory requirement, DWP have agreed a six-week consultation period on the staff transfer scheme under s38 ERA 1999.
	DWP started consultation on the transfer of staff on 3 March 2014 and is due to complete on 14 April 2014.
	DWP formally engaged with LA Trade Unions as a stakeholder on 7 March 2014 by sending Unite, GMB and Unison trades unions copies of their letter to local authority chief executives inviting comments on the transfer of staff. Further engagement will be scheduled to agree consultation arrangements going forward.

Correspondence

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of complaints made to his Department about lost correspondence in each of the last four years.

Esther McVey: The Department takes its responsibilities to protect information very seriously. Where instances of lost correspondence arise and are reported to the Department, they will be investigated and dealt with by local management as appropriate. Records of such cases are not collated centrally, and to provide the information requested would incur disproportionate cost.

Disability Living Allowance

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make it his policy to allow applications to the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance by children under three years old who cannot travel without ventilators and similar large amounts of equipment.

Michael Penning: I refer my hon. Friend to my answer to the hon. Member for Heywood and Middleton (Jim Dobbin) of 28 February 2014, Official Report, column 561W.

Employment Schemes: Hearing Impairment

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what support his Department provides to assist deaf people in seeking employment.

Michael Penning: We do not target our employment support exclusively at individuals with particular impairments. Instead, through a range of programmes, we aim to identify and meet the needs of the individual, including the needs of deaf people.
	The Work programme is the biggest single Welfare to Work programme, which provides personalised back-to-work support for unemployed people, including disabled people. For those that have more complex needs, we have a range of specialist disability employment programmes, including access to work, work choice and residential training colleges, all of which support deaf people to take up and remain in employment. In particular, access to work can provide funding towards tailored support for deaf people such as specialist aids and equipment and British sign language interpreters.
	Jobcentre Plus disability employment advisers can provide support and advice for disabled people who need help finding and retaining employment.

Employment: Females

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what discussions he has had with the Minister for Women and Equalities about highlighting the importance of women in the workplace in discussions on decent work at the UN Commission on the Status of Women 2014; and if he will make a statement.

Esther McVey: The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Mr Duncan Smith), has met the Minister for Women and Equalities, my right hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke (Maria Miller), on a number of occasions and they have discussed a range of issues.

Habitual Residence Test

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people have taken the new Habitual Residence Test since its launch in December 2013.

Esther McVey: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Hearing Impairment

Richard Fuller: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent meetings he has had with representatives of the deaf community.

Michael Penning: I met representatives from the Deaf Community (Sir Malcolm Bruce MP, David Buxton British Deaf Association, Jim Edwards Signature and Susan Daniels National Deaf Children's Society) on 23 October 2013. As part of the continuing commitment from that meeting to consider Government services for deaf people, officials have recently met and have remained in contact with representatives of the deaf community, including BDA and Action on Hearing Loss. Action on Hearing Loss is a member of the Disability Charities Consortium who I met on 26 February 2014.

Housing Benefit

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many local authorities applied for additional financial assistance to cover discretionary housing payments in 2013-14; and what assistance such local authorities received.

Steve Webb: 86 local authorities applied for additional financial assistance to cover discretionary housing payments in 2013-14.
	A breakdown of the amount awarded to 85 local authorities can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hb-circular-s32014-confirmation-of-funding-and-overall-expenditure-limits-for-discretionary-housing-payments-in-apr-2013-to-mar-2014

Housing Benefit

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of total Government expenditure on housing benefit in (a) cash and (b) real terms in each of the last 30 years.

Steve Webb: The information requested is published and can be found in the table entitled “Housing Benefit” at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/273833/outturn-and-forecast-expenditure-201213.xls

Housing Benefit: Older People

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of households in which there is one or more person over the state pension age and in receipt of housing benefit are under-occupying their property.

Esther McVey: Social sector housing benefit recipients who have reached the age for state pension credit are not affected by the removal of the spare room subsidy. As a consequence, no households would be classed as under-occupying.

Independent Living Fund

David Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he has taken to ensure that key information from his forthcoming announcement on the future of the Independent Living Fund is clearly communicated to recipients of payments from the Fund.

Michael Penning: I announced on 6 March that the Independent Living Fund will close on 30 June 2015 and that responsibility and funding for all the care and support needs of current users will transfer to English local authorities and to the devolved Administrations in Scotland and Wales.
	The Independent Living Fund took immediate and comprehensive action to ensure that this decision was communicated to users of the fund. Details of the decision, including a link to the written statement, were published on its website on 6 March. Individual letters and an information sheet were issued by post to all users (or their representatives), on 12 March. For the following week, the Independent Living Fund also operated extended telephone hours to handle any follow-up questions from users.

Social Security Benefits: Kilmarnock

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many benefit sanctions in Kilmarnock and Loudoun constituency were (a) issued and (b) dropped following requests for reconsideration or appeal in the last year for which figures are available.

Esther McVey: The information requested is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Social Security Benefits: Young People

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much has been spent on assessing whether 16 and 17 year olds were estranged from their parents in order to determine eligibility for benefits in each of the last five years.

Esther McVey: The information you require is not available in the format requested.

Telephone Services

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the revenue raised in each of the last four years through the use of premium rate public enquiry lines by his Department.

Michael Penning: DWP does not use premium rate numbers and does not directly receive any revenue from telephone service providers for 0845 numbers.

Vacancies: Internet

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what discussions his Department has held with Monster on the administration of checks and safeguards on the Universal Jobmatch website; and what the outcomes of those discussions were.

Esther McVey: DWP meets regularly with the service provider to discuss all aspects of the service. Universal Jobmatch already has checks in place including additional checks that have been introduced since the launch of the service.

Work Capability Assessment

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of work capability assessments appeals that were found in favour of the claimant heard by January 2014, were awarded zero points at the initial decision; and what proportion of such decisions were awarded to (a) the WRAG and (b) the Support Group.

Michael Penning: The information requested for all work capability assessments is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Work Capability Assessment: Kilmarnock

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of those who undertook a work capability assessment in Kilmarnock and Loudoun constituency in the last six months were declared fit for work.

Michael Penning: The information requested by parliamentary constituency is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in (a) payment group 1, (b) payment group 2 and (c) payment group 6 have completed two years on the Work Programme since that programme started; and how many of those people secured a job outcome within two years.

Esther McVey: Statistics on how many people in the payment groups 1, 2 and 6 have completed two years on the Work programme and how many of those have secured a job outcome can be found using the ‘Monthly Completers’ option at:
	http://tabulation-tool.dwp.gov.uk/WorkProg/tabtool.html
	Guidance for users is available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-tabulation-tool-guidance

Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the reasons for the fall in Work Programme referral numbers reported in the Work Programme Official Statistics to December 2013; and what his forecast is for future referrals.

Esther McVey: Work programme referrals are likely to have declined due to the generally improving economic situation leading to lower numbers hitting the referral points. We plan to release our next estimates of referrals in April 2014.

Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he is taking to prevent the practice of creaming and parking in the Work Programme.

Esther McVey: Unlike previous employment schemes, the Work programme already pays more to providers for them to support those claimants furthest from the labour market, ensuring that providers are incentivised to help all claimants.
	In addition, minimum service levels act as a safety net to ensure all claimants, regardless of their barriers, can get the support they need to return to work.